The Love Ranch (BWWM Romance) (13 page)

BOOK: The Love Ranch (BWWM Romance)
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“Tiffany?”

“Tiana, honey. We don’t get to see hide nor hair of you these days. How’s it going?”

“Tiff, listen, I don’t have time to talk. Is Jamal there?”

“Jamal? The little demon is right over there. He just used my lipstick to draw a pattern on Rose’s handbag. She does not look happy,” Tiffany said cheerfully.

Tiana grinned, “Watch him for me?”

“Don’t I always, hon. Come around one of these days. I miss you.” Tiffany laughed.

Tiana stared at the phone disbelievingly. Had the world suddenly gone mad? Then it hit her in a flash; Tiffany was always teasing her because she liked her.

With a shrug, she rushed down the rest of the stairs and straight into the library without bothering to knock.

Christian rose to his feet, ever the perfect gentleman; then like the very stuff of her nightmares, Hank rose slowly too, his hands clasped together in front of him.

Even though she had had some warning of sorts of his presence, Tiana was still shocked to see him. Her gaze flew to Christian’s reassuring presence, and then she stepped farther into the room, taking care to keep as far away from Hank as possible.

“Tiana. It’s good to see you,” Hank said quietly.

“I’m sure you’ll excuse me for not saying the same thing,” she said coolly as she shifted closer towards Christian. “Lying is still a sin in my book.”

“Yeah. I totally deserved that,” Hank agreed.

“Why are you here? Why have you been stalking me?”

He exhaled, “I have not been stalking you. Not really. I just... I wanted to talk to you.”

How was Christian allowing this, Tiana wondered wildly.

“You had a restraining order against me, Tiana, and I just needed to talk to you. If I had tried to break it by approaching you formally I could end up back in jail. I realized how wrong I was in prison and when I got out, I came straight to our old house to apologize but I found out you were gone. Look I messed up okay? I did inexcusable things but Jamal is my kid and I do love him.”

“Stay away from my son!” Tiana ordered through gritted teeth.

“Tiana, I have turned my life around, I swear. I got a job, I have a fiancée now whom I respect and I have never tried to hit her, nor will I. I learned my lesson, I swear. The times we were together, I was going through some bad stuff in my life. I was a drunk, but now I'm sober. Things have changed now. Plus, I want to start another family and I need you to not be scared of me. I want to be part of Jamal’s life but that’s entirely up to you. If you don’t want me around him, I’ll clear out.”

His dark eyes blazed sincerely into hers and Tiana slowly released the breath she had been holding.

“Send me your address and I’ll send you pictures of Jamal. You get to talk to him on phone every Christmas but no personal visits until he’s an adult and can decide for himself,” she said, decisively.

His face fell then he seemed to gather himself before her eyes and said, “In that case, I’ll be on my way. Thanks, Tiana,” he added as he handed her the address on a sheet of paper.

Their fingers brushed and she looked up into his eyes; she used to be so in love with this man at one point that she could barely breathe without him. But now, she couldn’t imagine being married to him. She would have to think over whether to let Jamal see him but for now, her decision stood. Only time would tell whether Hank would last as a good person.

“Goodbye, Hank,” she said with finality.

“Goodbye. And for the record, I know nothing about no damn slashed tires or burnt stalls. Your man here asked me about that before you came down. Ain’t never been on this ranch until today,” he finished earnestly.

Tiana studied him. She had always been able to tell when he was telling the truth and this time, he was.

So if he didn’t do those things and Rick didn’t either, who did?

 

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Tiana?” Christian said as the library closed behind Hank.

“Yes?”

“I am so sorry,” he said, coming around the desk to clasp both her hands in his. “I’m sorry about the way I have been acting. I’ve been a regular dick. Can you forgive me?”

“It’s fine Christian, I just...”

“I need you, Tiana. I love you. I am in love with you,” he declared softly.

The familiar panic clawed at her insides, the room seemed to recede before her eyes and then she relaxed, drawing on an inner reservoir of strength she hadn’t even known she had.

“I love you too, Christian, with all my heart,” she told him in a voice as clear as bells.

He froze, and then with a mighty roar of laughter, he grabbed her right up into the air and began to twirl her around in celebration.

He stopped, his lips melding with hers in a kiss that was as hot as it was sweet. His tongue lightly licked her lower lip, sending a thousand sensations coursing through her. Tiana grabbed the back of his head and deliberately deepened the kiss.

Christian’s hand found her breasts and as he began to knead them, his arousal grew so hard he was tempted to take Tiana right there and then.

She moaned and kissed him harder, her hands encircling his neck as she raised her long, slim legs and wrapped them around his thigh.

Sweat beaded on Christian’s forehead and he grunted as his hand dipped between their bodies to caress her through the soft material of the skirt she was wearing.

Tiana gasped, rubbing herself harder and harder against his hand until making love to her was all he could think about.

Christian lowered her onto the tabletop in his office, his hands squeezing hard, rubbing, caressing and stroking every inch of her until Tiana was certain she would expire if he did not make love to her.

“I need you,” she gasped, her legs spread wide on the table.

Christian sank onto his chair, pulled it closer to the table’s edge. Gently, he guided her to lie on her back on the table, leaving her legs dangling over the edges and her panties level with his face. He then leaned forward and sniffed her vagina through the thin cotton of her panties. She smelled fantastic, he thought. She smelled like wild roses and clean natural fun. She made him think of flowers in spring with their tender petals only just opening up.

Slowly, he edged her panties to the side, exposing her glistening wetness to his gaze. With a moan of pure desire and uncontrollable lust, Christian leaned down, flicked out his tongue, and licked her slowly, his tongue tasting, teasing, inflaming the sweet core of her. She groaned, and spread wider for him.

Christian gently nipped her clitoris between his teeth, enjoying the way she gasped and bucked, sighing his name and squirming for all she was worth.

His tongue began tocircle her clitoris in slow, continuous motions sweeping from the base to the tip, again and again and again and again. Pleasure began to pool in the pit of her stomach and Tiana groaned uncontrollably, pressing forward as she offered herself up to him.

Christian gently dipped two fingers into her core, enjoying the way her tight sheath folded around them immediately while his tongue continued to lick at her clitoris.

He took her higher and higher and higher until she was panting and writhing and begging.

Pleasure roared through her, sending a kaleidoscope of colors exploding beneath her eyes and she knew she was about to let the tension send her over the edge into the oblivion of orgasm. The pleasure built tighter, tighter, higher, higher and then...

A loud jarring knock interrupted, making them both jump almost apart. Tiana struggled to a sitting position even as Christian hastily got to his feet and dashed to the door to intercept whoever it was.

It was Rose. “Oh, Christian,” she breathed, her face wreathed in anxious lines. “You must come at once. At once!”

From where she was straightening her clothes, Tiana heard the alarm in the old woman’s voice and she hurriedly shoved her fingers through her hair before running to join Christian. They both exited the library at a virtual run, Tiana’s heart thudding in her chest as fear clawed blindly through her.

What had gone wrong now?

Oh dear Lord! Someone had opened as many of the stalls as possible and set the horses running amok around the ranch.  The faint smell of gasoline told her why and she rushed there with Christian but there seemed to be no one at all in sight. On a hunch,
Tiana slid away and started checking the stalls one after the other. Christian was a bit pre-occupied trying to catch some of the horses as were his men.

His hands were occupied with trying to calm down Aasifa and Caesar at the same time. Tiana walked noiselessly through one stall and the next, searching for the perpetrator. If the smell of gasoline was any indication, whoever it was would stick around to actually set and enjoy the fire. Statistics and studies had shown that arsonists often hung around to enjoy the roar of the inferno; something about it filling them with a sense of power.

A small sound in one of the stalls alerted her and she peered around the door, her eyes widening when she saw a familiar slight figure emptying yet another can of gasoline. She could not see the woman’s face from her angle but she recognized the hoodie she had seen the other day from the kitchen window as well as the tell-tale wisps of wine-colored red hair.

Slowly, she edged away, intending to go call Christian but of course, her feet chose that moment to strike against a can and the resultant racket was loud enough to wake Sleeping Beauty without the prince’s help.

The woman spun around, revealing a long mane of more of the wine-colored hair, beautiful green eyes, a wide, generous mouth, slender throat and a pretty face which contorted in rage and hate when she spied Tiana.

With a roar of rage, she dumped her can and charged.

Tiana screamed instinctively as the other woman tackled her to the ground and then she screamed again when the woman pulled her hair.

“Ouch,” she yelled as she retaliated.

The woman let out a satisfying yelp of her own.

Tiana slapped the woman as hard as she could and the bitch stopped yelping enough to return the favor.

They rolled, scratching and pulling hair. It was a regular slap fight.

Tiana rolled, pinning the other woman beneath her and kneeling astride her as she prepared to mete out as much pain as she had received; and oh did she! But just when things were beginning to get interesting, a pair of strong hands wrapped around her waist and lifted her right off of the other woman as though she weighed nothing more than a pair of sandals.

Tiana struggled frantically, eager to get in another lick at the bitch but Christian’s hands were firm as a damn iron band.

“Let me go, Christian!”

But he wasn’t listening. “Vanessa?”

“You know her?” Tiana asked, ceasing her struggles.

“Vanessa Sparkles. Our old cook.”

“Well your old cook decided to roast herself some barns and a few horses on the side for dinner!” Tiana spat renewing her struggles to get her hands on the other woman who had hurt Christian so many times by slashing tires, hosing down his alfalfa and of course, the great bonfire. She wouldn’t admit it out loud but in her book, the greatest crime that deserved the most punishment was that this woman had been responsible for interrupting her lovemaking with Christian twice!

Christian’s lip quirked a little; Tiana could be a little spitfire when she wanted to be. And the sarcasm just seemed to roll off of her sometimes. Roasted barn with horses on the side?

His men had begun to gather in the barn themselves, their faces all showing surprise at seeing Vanessa there. Rose had told everyone after all that Vanessa had left to join a convent.

He released Tiana to one of his men to keep her from scratching Vanessa’s eyes out.

“What are you doing here?” Christian asked.

Vanessa sat up on the floor, her face filled with hate and anger. The proverbial woman scorned. “You threw me out like a floozy.”

“You were acting like one but I didn’t throw you out, I only politely declined your offer. You decided you couldn’t live here anymore, you left for the convent, and you have been terrorizing my ranch since! Dammit I thought it was Hank or Rick.”

“Who are Hank and Rick? For your information I never left. I have been here the whole time.”

Blaring sirens signaled the arrival of the cavalry and Christian grinned wickedly at Vanessa when he heard the sound.

“Good for you, Vanessa. You can tell the cops all about it. And yes, you’re going to do some time in the slammer because I will press charges.”

“You told me you didn’t sleep with employees, but I have been watching you bang that piece of trash for weeks!”

Tiana blinked; no wonder she had always gotten the sensation of being watched. Pity for the other woman welled in her heart but she ruthlessly quashed it. Anyone who would try to hurt animals did not deserve much sympathy.

Three cops rushed into the barn, Read Vanessa her Miranda rights and took her away.

Christian pulled Tiana into his arms hugging her close as he watched the cop cars pull away. Slowly, he guided her upstairs to his room.

BOOK: The Love Ranch (BWWM Romance)
5.19Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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