The Weston Front (9 page)

“Of course not.”

“You’re disappointed I’m not who you thought I was?” he asked, sounding a little dejected.

“I just…I don’t know…wish this could have…”

“Go on,” he urged, running his hand up and down my arm.  “I want to hear everything that’s in your pretty little head.”

“It may sound presumptuous, but…I really wish we could have met under different…circumstances,” I softly said, pressing my lips together and focusing on my wine.

He took my chin in his hand and tilted my head up so that I could see the smoldering cowboy look in his eyes.  He replied huskily, “Sweetheart, there are no presumptions here.  I’ve touched your ass, I’ve licked your mouth, I’ve licked your breasts, I’ve touched your hot, wet…”

“Okay!” I interrupted, growing hot all of the sudden and backing further into the table with a thud.  God, was I sweating?  I tried to compose myself as he smiled and continued.

“And I want to
,
pla
n
to do so much more.  What you have to understand first is…well…it’s been about a year.”

“A year?” I repeated, giving him a confused look.  A year…

“Since I’ve had sex,” he said, annoyed that I hadn’t caught on and he had to say it out loud.

“Oh,” I whispered, unable to swallow.  That seemed like a long time for a guy, but why would he lie about that?

“Yes, it’s a very long time, but I haven’t really had the opportunity or found…the right girl,” he sighed, gulping his wine and slamming his glass on the table.  His gaze ran up and down my body.  “And second, Sweetheart, you really need to get it through your thick, stubborn skull that this isn’t a short term thing for me.  I don’t plan on letting you go very easily.”

Swallowing and setting my glass down very gently, I took a couple of breaths and looked back up at him.  He couldn’t do this.  “West,” I whispered, rubbing my forehead.  “Even if you really mean it, don’t say stuff like that to me…”

“Of course I really mean it,” he answered, looking offended.  “And why wouldn’t you want me to be honest with you?”

“Because!” I shouted, throwing my arms out and surprising myself at my outburst.  He didn’t back away, though.  “Let’s be realistic!  I’m not ready for a fling and this can’t be anything more!  I’m leaving to go back home to Texas in like, five days!  How would that even work?”

“I may be only a millionaire, but I still have my own jet,” he grinned crookedly, looking all charming as he reached around and placed a hand at the small of my back.  “How else would I fly to all twenty of our properties to manage them, ten properties being in - gasp - Texas?”

“Stop that!” I tried to order, fighting a smile as he pressed his hand into my back and I had to lean into him.  He felt so good and smelled even better.  I pressed my hands to his chest and looked up at him, ready to argue.

He immediately leaned down and kissed me hard, stroking my tongue with his as his hands roamed up and down my sides, my back, my front.  Our attraction was real and this didn’t surprise me.  I’d felt it.  Evidently so had he.

“Mm, we have to stop,” he huffed, gently taking my hands out from under his t-shirt and holding them in between us.  He hovered right above my lips.  He looked like he was…hurting.

“I’m sorry,” I immediately said, trying to catch my breath and back away.

“No,” he demanded, pulling me into him and wrapping his arms around me tightly.  Wow, this felt good, even after that rejection.  “No, we can’t do this right now.  We have to talk, we have to work things out…I…I want to make love to you…”

Well, there went my underwear.  I was instantly wet and actually panting for him.  I was the slightest bit ashamed of myself that those words were all it took to get me going.

“I want that, too,” I replied, kissing his chest through his t-shirt.  “I do.”

“I know,” he said, kissing my hair.  “But if I spend one more second kissing you and touching you I’m going to have to fuck you right here.”

Underwear soaked, and there went the jeans, too.  My knees actually got weak as I looked up at him with one hundred percent trust.

“West
,
I want that, to
o
…”

“No,” he shook his head, turning me around and pushing my shoulder towards the living room.  I stumbled forward, confused as we passed through the room and rounded the couch.  “Wait here and I’ll bring the wine and some food.  We need to talk and…not fuck tonight.”

I frowned at his liberal use of that word and maybe because it was what I really wanted, then yelped as he smacked my ass and left the room. 
I
wante
d
to be mad.  Everything he did was so hot, though.

“Are you done pouting, because that falls under the cute category and I already told you to stop that,” he announced, coming back into the room with another bottle of wine and a platter of fruit and cheese.

I smiled as I turned from the scenic window and the moonlight outside and walked back to the large coffee table and sectional couch, the room illuminated by a single lamp on an end table.  I sat right next to him and took the wine glass he offered, red this time.  He clinked his glass on mine and looked right at me…right through me.  It was a strange feeling.

“You feel it, right?” he quietly asked, not breaking eye contact.

A shiver ran through me.  I’d never felt this way, but I knew exactly what I was feeling and it really scared me.

“Yes,” I whispered in a barely audible voice.

“I’ve been feeling it from the moment I spotted you on the first day.”

I furrowed my brow as I thought about what I’d felt in the past few days.  Lust?  Aggravation?  Resignation? 

“I thought I really annoyed you,” I grinned, sipping my wine and eating some cheese.

“You did,” he huffed, raising an eyebrow and setting his wine glass down.  “It drove me absolutely wild with worry when I saw you putting yourself in danger…”

“You mean participating in activities sanctioned by your own ranch?” I smirked, raising a sarcastic eyebrow back at him.

“You’re just so little and…I’ve never felt the need to protect someone like I feel when I’m around you.”

“You do realize that I’m your only guest who actually grew up with a ranch, right?  I’m the only one wh
o
shoul
d
be doing any of these activities.”

“I can’t help what I feel,” he shrugged, eating some yellow cheese on a cracker.  With drying, messy hair and a t-shirt pulled tight around his shoulders, only West could make that look sexy.

“Well get over it,” I repeated mockingly, eating a strawberry and failing at the sexiness thing.

He seemed annoyed again but swallowed more wine and finally folded his hands as he leaned his elbows on his knees.

“I’m just going to be straightforward because that’s the kind of guy I am,” he announced, looking down at the Persian rug.  “I like you.  I like being around you.  I like everything about you.  When you’re near I get excited and…hopeful.  It’s a feeling I barely recognize and I love it.  I don’t, I don’t want this to end.  I want you to be mine.”

The juice of the pineapple I was nibbling on sucked up my throat and I began coughing uncontrollably.  What had he just said?  I took the napkin he offered me and wiped my mouth and fingers as I tried to regain a little composure.

“You want me to be…yours?” I asked, twisting the white napkin in my now sweaty hands.  What did that really mean?  What did it entail?
 
Quit over-analyzing, dummy, it involves mind blowing sex with the smoldering cowboy.

“Yes,” he simply stated, standing up and walking around the coffee table.  “I’m your boyfriend, you’re my girlfriend.”

I finished the wine in my glass and licked the remnants off my lips.  Honestly?  What was there to think about?

“Okay,” I agreed, looking up at him.  He was already heading towards me and had me on my back on the couch in the next second.  So much for putting some distance between us so that we could talk.  He kissed me softly, leaning up over me on his elbows, and then things began to get a little more urgent.

“Say you’re mine,” he demanded, licking up and down my neck as his erection pressed up right in between my thighs.

“You’re mine,” I grinned, liking the sound of it.  He paused and his head lifted, the corner of his mouth turned up.

“Cute and naughty,” he groaned, standing up and pulling on my hands.  “This is going to be really fun.”

I squealed as he grabbed under my arms and tossed me over his shoulder, then squealed again as his hand smacked my ass.

“And there’ll be no more of that!” I ordered, feeling totally out of control as he walked across the room and up the wide winding staircase in the corner.

“Actually, there’ll be a lot more of that,” he chuckled, smacking my ass again as he headed down the carpeted upstairs hallway.

“No there won’t!” I argued, hitting his back with a fist.

“We’ll see,” he said, kicking open his door and leaning forward.  I flew back onto his soft bed and caught him smiling adoringly at me.  It felt really good to have someone look at me like that.

I could certainly do this for the next few days, even though I knew that realistically it would be over after that.  I didn’t care.  I hadn’t felt so happy since before Daniel had left me.

I awoke to vibrating.

Oh God, he wanted to g
o
agai
n
?  I couldn’t even feel my face, let alone anything below the waist.  It was a blissful feeling, sure, but I was exhausted.  From sex.  That was a first.

Actually, the night had been full of firsts.  He’d ripped off all of my clothes and made me come twice with just his fingers and mouth.  Teasing, tantalizing fingers bringing me closer and closer and then letting me come back down.  Then his warm, wet tongue brought me to new heights and I’m pretty sure I screamed.  Daniel hadn’t ever done that. 

He tore his own clothes off and thrust into me twice and we both came.  First.  He was just so big and according to him I wa
s
so fucking tight and ho
t
.

He talke
d
reall
y
dirty.  First.  I’d never even heard of some of the terms he’d used to describe my anatomy and what he was going to do to it.  It made me hot, though.  Really hot.

He grabbed a vibrator from some kind of sex drawer and drove me wild with it while he was still inside me.  First.  We both passed out cold somewhere during the night.  I’d never had that much sex, let alone fantastic sex.  All filthy firsts, but I loved them.

A hand snaked around my body, lightly touching my breasts, grazing my stomach, and finally settling right between my legs.  A husky voice groaned from somewhere behind me.

“Ah, Blake, your hot, tight, little pussy is so wet for me, isn’t it?”

I tried to squeeze my thighs together, just a jerk reaction to all of this sex overload, but his hand was already firmly planted.  His other gently rolled me to my back and I gasped as his mouth came down onto my nipple in the darkness.  Wait, it wasn’t morning yet?  I was a little disoriented.

“Mm, you liked the vibrator, huh?  Give it to me,” he mumbled, still licking my breasts.  God, that felt so good.

The vibrating sounded again and I moaned as two of his fingers stroked deep inside me.

“Stop teasing me,” I softly whined, arching my back.  I wanted him to do all of the things he’d done with it again.

“Give me the vibrator, Blake, or I’ll flip you over and give you another orgasm while I spank you.”

Jerk.  That was a begrudging first for me.  He’d had me on my knees, ass in the air, driving into me with his, let’s be honest, huge cock.  Then he began talking about how pink he was going to make my ass.  Then he started spanking me.  And then I screamed for about a minute with another mind-blowing orgasm.  I was dubious about it because I knew I shouldn’t have liked it…he shouldn’t have liked it, either.  But it had been amazing.

“I don’t have it!  You know I don’t, so stop teasing me!” I whined again, grabbing at the pillows in the darkness and throwing one in the direction of his voice.

“Hey!  Well, then what…” he paused and cursed, flipping on the lamp on the bedside table and reaching for his phone as it charged.  “Hamilton.”

Squinting in the light, I slowly sat up and pulled the sheets to my chin, a little chilly.  The vibrating had been his phone, but it was the middle of the night.  I hoped it wasn’t bad news.

“Shit.  Yeah, okay.  Okay.  I can be there,” he sighed, looking back at me with frustration.  He leaned back and ran a hand over my hair, reaching around my rib cage and drawing me to him.  He squeezed me against his chest and inhaled, kissing my hair as he spoke into the phone again.  “Yes, and then that’s it.  Okay.  See ya then.”

I looked up at him as he dropped his phone onto the bed.  He looked at me curiously.  “I hate to do this, but I have to leave.”

So it was bad news.  I understood, though.  He wasn’t the one on vacation, I was.

“But I don’t want to leave you,” he continued, almost looking hurt.

“Sure you do.  Hit it and quit it.  I know your type,” I frowned, doing a terrible job hiding a smile.

“Christ, you’re a naughty little girl,” he grinned, standing up and pulling me with him so that I was sitting on the edge of the bed. “But you’ll be good while I’m gone, right?  It’ll only be 24 hours, I promise.  My brother just needs me in New York for a vote and to sign something tomorrow.”

“I understand,” I nodded, looking down at my hands and finding myself staring at his huge erection.  I quickly turned my eyes back up to his.  “Can I ask you something before you go?”

“Of course,” he frowned, looking very serious as he ran his hands up and down my arms.

“Why were you so shocked when I was more upset about the playboy thing than the billionaire thing?”

The corner of his mouth turned up and he shook his head at me.  “God damn, you’re so adorable.  It was just shocking to me, that’s all.  Ninety-nine percent of the time it’s the other way around with girls.  They like the playboy thing and the
y
lov
e
the money thing.  It’s all they’re interested in.  You don’t…seem to care at all.”

“Do you know how much you’re charging for a ten day stay on this boring ranch?  I’m not a billionaire, but I’m not exactly living hand to mouth, either,” I smirked, squealing as he picked me up over his shoulder and walked to the bathroom.  He smacked my ass really hard before turning on the shower and gently setting me on my feet.

“My naughty little Blake,” he sighed, shaking his head at me as I rubbed my rear.

“My billionaire boyfriend,” I grinned, stepping from the marble onto the pebbles and grout of the open shower.  He was suddenly behind me, the hot spray of water misting off of his chest and onto my head.

“I love the sound of that,” he softly said, sucking on my ear.  “I promise I won’t be gone long, and we’ll spend the rest of our time here figuring out what we’re going to do in the future.”

The future.  It sounded so nice for once.  And I could certainly sacrifice a few days in the future for some more of what we’d just done in his bed.  He’d been firm but gentle, two things I never thought went together, but was happy to discover that with West, they just did.  I smiled and looked back and up at him.  Then it quickly turned into a frown as he continued.

“Now you have to promise to be good while I’m gone.  It’s just one day.  Can you do that?”

“Don’t sound so condescending,” I snapped, turning and shoving him off of my back.  Good feeling gone.  “I don’t go looking for trouble, by the way…”

“But it always seems to find you,” he stated, folding his arms over his dripping wet chest.  Focus.

“Yeah, and his name is West!”

“You know what you’re not supposed to do, so don’t try and go do it just because I’m gone,” he ordered, looking completely serious.

“Sure, because you have spies everywhere who are just dying to tell on me and get in good with the boss!” I scowled, folding my arms over my chest, too.  

He exhaled and drew a wet hand down his face.  Then he stepped towards me, pinning me to the stone wall with a very serious stare.

“I know everything that goes on here whether I’m present or not.  Keep that in mind,” he nodded, turning and grabbing the shampoo.

I grunted in frustration and yanked a fluffy white towel off the hook on the wall.  I wrapped it around myself and marched out of the bathroom in a desperate search for my clothes.

“You complete me!” he called in a playful tone.

“You’re an arrogant asshole!” I replied, tripping a few times as I pulled on my underwear and jeans in anger.  I was just shoving my foot into my boot when he appeared, white towel around his waist, and slowly walked towards me.

“Please don’t be mad.  I’ve explained how much I worry about you…”

“And it’s unwarranted!” I shouted, pausing and closing my eyes.  I breathed in to calm myself.  “I know what I’m doing, okay?  I won’t hurt myself.”

“I care about you,” he stated, stepping in front of me and running his fingers down the side of my face.  “So it is warranted and you just have to accept that.”

“No, I don’t,” I argued, though I don’t know why.  I knew what was coming next.

“Then when I get back and I hear about what a bad little girl you were, you’re going to be reprimanded,” he said, giving me a surprised look because I had the audacity to say the word
s
you’re going to be reprimande
d
at the same time he did.  And I may have used a tone.  God, I was a bad little girl.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, looking down at my boots and regretting my childish behavior.

He took my chin and lifted my head up so that I could see the adoring look in his eyes.  “Quit saying you’re sorry.  I don’t know why it’s so cute when you’re being contrary, but it is…and I have to go,” he sighed, checking his watch.  He looked back down at me and leaned in, kissing me softly and sweetly.  “Please stay here.  Sleep here, spend the day here.”

“I paid to be on a ranch, West, I want to do ranch stuff,” I whispered, his lips hovering over mine.

“Fine,” he exhaled, leaning back and giving me a pointed look. “Just be good.”

“Yes sir,” I called over my shoulder as I walked out of the room.  “Anything you say, sir!”

“Don’t sass me!” he yelled down the hallway, smiling as he leaned in his doorway.

“Aren’t you gone yet?” I shouted, grinning as I skipped down the stairs.  It was only 5:00 am.  Yeah, it was going to be a good day.

Tapping my thumbs rhythmically against the front desk I shot the concierge a forced grin as she nervously dialed a number and wiped her sweaty upper lip as she mumbled into the phone.  Closing her eyes like she’d just gotten terrible news, she swallowed and handed the black receiver up to me.

“Um, hello?” I asked, expecting to speak with someone more knowledgeable than Ms. Penny Peterson, Concierge.

“Why do you need to rent a car?”

“West?” I asked, totally not expecting to hear his voice.  I even looked at the receiver like he would just pop right out of it.  “Where are you?”

“I’m in the car driving from JFK to the office.  Why do you need a car?” he repeated, sounding mad.

I shot Penny Peterson an annoyed glare as I turned in the reception area and quietly said, “I want to go and see how Kelly’s doing.”

“Then let one of the drivers take you.”

“In one of those stretched Hummer limos?  I’d really rather just drive myself…”

“You don’t know the roads around there and once you hit the highway the tractor-trailer traffic is very heavy.  Get a driver and let him take you…”

“Did you instruct your employees to notify you of my movements through the ranch all day?” I asked, hunching my shoulders to my ears, as I tried to keep my angry voice quiet to spare myself further humiliation.  That was really taking the spying thing too far.

He was quiet for one second too long.

“West!  I don’t need a buncha babysitters!”

“Take the damn limo or don’t go at all.  I need to hang up.  We’re here.”

“Bye,” I said with a mock-cheerfulness and fully intending on proceeding with the car rental.  I handed the phone back to Penny and thanked her.  It really wasn’t her fault West was acting like a lunatic.

“Got the car?  I’ll go with you if you don’t want to be alone,” Caroline said, handing me a coffee and leaning against the stone ledge surrounding the cafe.  We sipped our coffee in the mid-morning sunlight, her in tight white jeans and matching tank top with yellow boots, me in ripped Seven jeans, my old boots, the trusty Cowboys hat, and a thin navy t-shirt that said ‘NAVY’ across the front in white letters.

“But it’s your picnic with Rowdy today,” I grinned, having listened to her gush about it for an hour before she asked what I had planned for the day.  “You have to go.  He made fried chicken, for Pete’s sake.”

“He’s a great cook,” she sighed, looking off somewhere.  “Better in bed, though.  How’s West?”

“At cooking or bedding?” I smirked, sipping the coffee as she turned and narrowed her eyes at me.

“I knew you didn’t come home last night!  Now spill!” she squealed, abandoning her coffee and folding her arms over her chest.

I actually twirled one of my pig tails as I thought about how great he’d been in bed and then frowned about how supercilious he’d been acting since then.  My first real adult relationship and I wasn’t sure if it was going well or crashing and burning.  Maybe that’s what adult relationships were all about.

“Oh, it’s good and bad all at once, huh?” she nodded.  “That means it’s serious.”

I decided to tell her a few things.  “He wants to be my boyfriend.  Said those exact words.”

She sputtered for a second, shaking her head and finally exhaling the words, “I’m so sorry, Blake.  I really thought he was putting up some kind of good guy front.  I was wrong, I guess.”

“He used to be like that in college,” I nodded, staring at the landscape.  “But since he runs this ranch and other properties he doesn’t have time anymore.”

“I feel like that sometimes,” Caroline sighed, making me frown at her admission and empathy.  “What?  Since my promotion how many times have I been out with you?”

I thought about her New Year’s promotion and could only come up with a handful of times we’d even seen each other since then.  I’d attributed it to my break-up but it was
she, too.  I smiled and rolled my eyes at her.