Chapter 4
Caden
“How’s Carter?” Maverick asks, spearing a couple of green beans as he looks at Ade across the dining room table.
His large forearms are still streaked with grease from the tractor that he spent the afternoon attempting to fix, and there’s a long rip up the front of his shirt from where it snagged on the roller.
“Still conscious,” Ade says drily, before flicking Maverick a dark look that tells a whole other story.
My dad glances carefully between them, lowering his fork to the table. “What’s wrong with Carter?”
“It’s the Quarter Horse,” Ade rumbles. “Carter got bucked off at least five times today. The animal hates his goddamn guts, and he’s still adamant about entering him for the rodeo.”
“Which events?” our dad asks cautiously. “Saddle bronc riding, or bareback riding? ’Cause if the horse has a natural buck, then maybe he’s the perfect fit for the job.”
Ade huffs out a laugh and says quietly, “Carter wants him for roping.”
Maverick chokes on his steak, his tan face turning red, and he thumps his broad chest with his fist as he flicks a look toward our dad.
Our dad, whose ranch depends on the money that we gain through rodeos like the one in February.
Needless to say, he isn’t smiling.
“Where did he get it from?” he asks seriously, his brow creasing as he turns to look at Ade. “Because if he won it in a fucking bar fight, then consider him already fired.”
“Deacon,” my mom murmurs, glancing in Winter’s direction before looking back at my dad. As if to say, don’t cuss at the table, especially when Winter is present.
My parents are real traditional as it is, but they’re even more Southern when Winter’s around.
My dad meets my mom’s gaze, taking her hand in his and exhaling softly.
“Sorry,” he rumbles deeply, and then he looks across the table at Winter and murmurs, “Sorry, sweetheart.”
“You don’t need to apologise,” Winter says gently, which probably makes him want to apologise even more.
But my mom reaches around Maverick and tells her, “Never doubt your boundaries when it comes to men, honey.”
I lift a brow.
Well, fuck me.
What the hell does that mean?
I stare across at my mom in disbelief as she fluffs her blown-out curls and gets back to her dinner.
“Thanks Mom,” I say drily, before wrapping my forearm protectively around Winter’s waist. She’s so petite that I completely envelop her, and I gather her securely against my side.
When the conversation resumes, Winter’s left hand settles tentatively over my quad, and I kiss her shoulder as she finishes eating, my chest expanding with the relief of being home.
Because as great as it is to play hockey at college… nothing compares to being back at the ranch.
“Maybe it’s not the horse,” our dad says, rubbing his stubble. “Maybe it’s the rider.”
“Oh, it’s the horse alright,” Ade says darkly, leaning back in his chair. “He isn’t broken.”
My dad’s silverware drops to the table, the sound ricocheting around the dining room.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Maverick exhales quietly as he pours a drink, setting it in front of Winter before he pours out his own.
“If the hosts find out,” Maverick admits, “I honestly don’t know if they’ll let him compete.”
“He’s competing,” Ade rumbles back to him. “Carter’s hunches have always been lucky before.”
“With horses that are trained,” Maverick says. “Not with feral mustangs, man. Not with horses that could kill him.”
“It’s going to work,” Ade repeats quietly, his thumbs flicking at the placemat as he avoids our eyes.
Then he rolls his shoulders and rights his posture, his gaze meeting Winter’s with a hint of a smile.
“Winter had her first lot of classes this week,” he says deeply, changing the subject, and he looks to our mom at the head of the table. “I watched her the other day and she’s so damn good with those kids. And they freakin’ love it when she shows them how she rides at the end of each lesson.”
Winter’s cheeks flush as pink as her hair, her eyes wide as she tries to laugh it off.
“It’s been okay,” she admits, her gaze flitting to Ade and then up to me.
And we share a smile as I rumble down to her, “You show them how you ride?”
“Just on the first pasture beyond the riding pen,” she whispers up at me, but Ade hears her anyway, and he clarifies to the room, “She’s faster than lightning.”
My mom and dad glance up at Ade, and I know exactly what’s going on in their minds.
If Winter rides faster than lightning, and she’s amazing with the horses…
Yeah, she’s great at training them, and yeah, she’s great with the kids, but…
My mom flicks a look at my dad before setting down her cutlery, her thoughts loud and clear.
There’s so much potential inside of Winter, just waiting to be let loose.
And as soon as I understand where they’re going with this, I know what I have to do.
“We’re going to head,” I say suddenly, pushing my chair back from the wooden table and making the floorboards groan. I glance down at Winter, checking that her plate is empty, and then I ease her seat back, taking her hand in mine.
She blinks up at me in surprise, her pretty lashes fluttering in confusion.
But I’ll explain it to her later.
No way is she going to sit through this conversation.
My dad watches me without blinking, steepling his fingers as he looks us over, but after a moment his expression softens, his deep voice turning gentle as he leans forward.
“Winter,” he rumbles. “You can stay at the ranch tonight, if you’d both like.”
“That’s really kind,” she admits, “and I’d love to, but my mom’s expecting me.”
“Do you want to call her and ask?” my mom offers softly, but Winter just smiles, letting me tug her backwards.
“Tomorrow,” she says, and my dad nods before flicking me another look. A look that says, I know your reasoning, Caden, but we can’t hold off this conversation forever. Even if the answer is no, we may as well lay our cards out on the table.
And when I catch Maverick and Ade both looking as if they’re about to get up to give my girlfriend a hug, I quirk my brow to say no way and literally carry her out of the room.
Winter squeals with laughter as I lift her feet from the floor, squeezing her body against mine as I haul her away.
“Caden!” she giggles, peeking over the curve of my shoulder to make sure that we’re alone. Then she looks back down at me with a playful smile and I rub her thighs as I carry her to the foyer.
“Didn’t you want me to stay?” she asks softly, and I all but trip over the rug, coming to an immediate stop.
“You wanna stay?” I ask quickly, my gaze flicking in the direction of my room.
Because if Winter stays here tonight…
“I meant for dinner,” she whispers, stroking her fingers through my hair. “I feel like we left a little fast, and I don’t want your dad to think that I’m rude. He’s a good cook,” she adds, massaging her fingers around my nape.
My parents and brothers alternate with cooking, but my dad is undoubtedly the leader in the kitchen.
But our abrupt exit from the dining room wasn’t because I wanted to cut our dinner short – it was because I didn’t want to keep Winter in a situation where she was about to get asked a question that she might not be ready for.
I lower her gently to the floor as I search her sparkling eyes, my shoulders heaving as I work out whether or not I should explain myself.
But before I make my decision Winter whispers, “I know what they were going to suggest.”
My jaw flexes and I cup her chin, making her lift her gaze to mine so that I can look at her.
She gives me a tiny smile and strokes my wrist, whispering, “I’m not freaking out, it’s okay, Caden.”
“Winter,” I rumble, “I would never suggest for you to compete again. You know that you’ll always have a place on this ranch. That doesn’t count on you doing a rodeo.”
Because, being naturally talented, Winter has competed in sport before… but given what happened when she did the last time, I know that she won’t want to do it again.
It’s why she’s so encouraging about me doing competitions.
Winter is the whole reason why I play hockey.
A memory glimmers in the back of my mind, of Winter beaming up into the stands as the crystals on her figure skating dress shimmered and flashed under the lights. Of that beautiful smile, that soft pink blush, a moment that was so perfect… so goddamn perfect, until it wasn’t.
The blood draining from my face as I watched her fellow skater push her to the ice, the silver blade lifting above her ankle as I shoved my way down the stands.
“Get out of the way!” I bellowed, pushing through the crowd, my eyes wide with fear.
And then I heard the sound that I’d never forget.
Not fast enough.
“I know,” Winter murmurs, smiling as she pulls me back to the present. “And it’s not like they need me to ride for them, anyway. They have Carter and the other riders, and they’re so talented.”
I stay silent as I nod down at her, even though we’re both thinking the same thing.
Sure, Carter and the other ranchers who ride for Hartstrings Ranch may be talented… but none of those guys have ever been compared to lightning.
“You’ll never have to do that,” I rumble back to her, hunching down to kiss her as she grips my shoulders. I brush my thumb up her jaw and she sighs softly, pressing closer.
And just like that, everything else fades away, my hands roaming lower as I back her against the door… and I’m so caught up in the feel of her after so long, that I almost fall over her discarded boots.
I glance down, my breathing laboured, and I help her slip them on as I grab my own, and then I’m holding open the front door and walking her quickly toward my truck.
“Caden,” she laughs breathlessly, her cheeks flushing pink as I help her into the passenger side, and then I’m jogging around the hood and kick-starting the engine, beyond ready for us to have some alone-time.
I keep my eyes on the road, the enormous valleys of the ranch stretching out in the rearview, but my fist stays tight around the stick-shift so that I don’t get any stupid ideas about touching her while I’m driving.
Winter’s parents’ house is a twenty-minute drive away, but I always pull up on one of the backroads so that they don’t catch us doing anything in my car before I walk her to the front door.
I take the turn before the cozy street of craftsman houses that Winter lives on, and we pull up by the wooden gate that separates the quiet suburb from the sprawling pasture.
I kill the engine and toss my key on the dash, stripping off my seatbelt as I look down at Winter, and her eyes trail over my biceps as she releases her belt from its holder.
And even though the cab is pretty small, so is my girl, so I reach over and pick her up, lifting her over the stick-shift so that she can straddle me.
She laughs quietly as I caress her thighs, my palms brushing beneath the hem of her sundress as she looks at me playfully.
“Hey,” I murmur, because even though we’ve spent the whole evening together, right now is the first time that we’re finally totally alone.
“Hey,” she whispers back to me, her fingertips on my forearms, tracing my tattoos.
I cup her jaw with one hand, I palm her waist with the other, and then I’m bringing her in for a gentle kiss as she wraps her arms around my shoulders.
It’s slow, and deep, and I groan huskily as she shifts on my thighs, her gentle fingers sliding up my shirt and baring my abdomen in the intimate light.
“Winter,” I rumble, my breathing laboured as she pushes my shirt up to my neck, and I roll my hips as I kiss her deeper, grunting as she digs her nails into my pecs.
I stroke my tongue firmly against hers, getting more lightheaded by the minute.
“I’ve missed this truck,” she whispers teasingly, and my mouth curves up as I breathe out a laugh.
I mean, yeah, I like our truck… but what I’ve really missed is what we do inside of it.
“Stay at the ranch tomorrow,” I tell her quietly, caressing her throat as she strokes my chest.
“Okay,” she whispers back to me, and I tug my zipper as I kiss her again. “I just have to tell my mom so that she knows where I am, but she’ll be okay with it seeing as your family’s there.”
“Yeah,” I say hoarsely, even though my family being there means jack-shit.
The ranch house is massive, and my bedroom couldn’t be farther away from everyone else’s, so we could be going at it like wild animals and no-one would know a damn thing.
“I’ll come watch you teach the kids after I’ve helped out Ade and Mav tomorrow morning,” I murmur.
Winter nods, her soft curls bouncing, and then I’m grunting as she bites my bottom lip, tugging it gently between her teeth before she lets it go, watching me under her lashes.
I spread out my quads and gather her closer, my cheekbones heating as I search her eyes.
“Do that again,” I ask her quietly, rumbling softly as she nips me again.
“We can have, like, four full nights of this,” she whispers, and my chest expands as I nod, knowing that it’s going to be fucking perfect.
“I swear, I’m gonna make every single second count,” I tell her, and she laughs happily against my mouth, making me grin as I gather her closer.
“You swear?” she whispers softly.
And I chuckle quietly, “Yeah, baby. I swear.”