Chapter 1
Chapter One
Garrett
I ’m jealous.
Of a fucking saddle.
I watch across the corral as she throws her leg over a chestnut gelding named Rooster, getting ready for the day’s ride past Stillwater Creek. The plan is for us to push the small herd of cattle that have wandered onto my neighbor’s property back into my property.
Each breath has become a challenge because of her. The sun is warm as her brown hair blows in the breeze, eyes the color of the meadow behind her glow with something that calls my name. Her boots are new, her jeans the perfect amount of tight and there’s no ring on her finger, thank Christ.
She’s city, but with a natural beauty that rivals that of the wildflowers that surround the Oak in the distance. Her stature may be small, but her presence is unlike anything I’ve felt before. She’s got curves in all the right places, and she’s turned my dick into a greedy warrior fighting for the right to claim what is his.
The day she stepped out of the van from the airport onto the ranch, I knew I was never going to be the same. My mama would be proud. I had a vision—me in my Sunday best, her in a white dress.
Only, right on the heels of that vision came the others, and if mama—God rest her soul—knew the things I want to do to the sweet, smart, city beauty… well, not sure she would be so proud. See, I was raised proper.
A good man.
A sturdy man.
A man of faith.
Mary Beth Lassiter has changed me. She’s a brush above twenty years old to my thirty-six. Her soft pale flesh, the swell of her world-class ass, have stirred things in me I’d long ago thought to be dead.
I’d do dark things to her.
I’d do evil things to possess her.
I’d kill to protect her.
She’s been here two days, and I’m on the verge of madness. Sleep eludes me. Food holds no pleasure.
Today, my frail control will be tested to the fucking limit when I lead her out on our ride— just the two of us.
Laying in my bed alone at night, I ease my shame, using the panties she dropped scurrying back to her cabin from the shower to jerk off until my hand is numb and my balls empty.
I dream she’s touching herself, delicate fingers pressing down between the sheet and into her softness, sinking into drenched folds as she thinks of me. In forty-eight hours, she’s become my obsession and no amount of prayer, or jerking off, has eased my need.
Last night I fought my own monster and lost. Leaving the main house, I followed the dirt trail to a gathering of pines just on the hill above her cabin. The panties she’d dropped the day before were clutched in my hand, thick with my own release coating the soft fabric. Just knowing they’ve touched her there, I could never let them go, not until I have her for myself.
All of her.
The memory of watching her floods through me. There was a low light burning on the nightstand as I peered through her window. The sheer curtain casting a white haze around her. Warm evening temperatures hovering high enough to keep her on top of the covers, wearing just a white tank top and cotton panties. Just like the ones I had held to my face. The scrap of fabric holding her scent now mixed with my own.
I’d worked my erection until I spent twice watching her, imaging her flavor, growling into the night, watching her roll onto her stomach, her hand pressed under her body.
She’s turned me into a monster. A man that would do anything to keep her here. To prevent her from returning to a life before me. I even think of tying her up. Binding her here until she understands she can never leave.
There’s a gnawing want. I’m unfulfilled. There’s a new wildness in me I cannot calm. The animal inside has been unleashed, and I cannot quench the thirst she’s awoken, no matter how hard I try.
How hard I pray.
My lungs feel wound with rope, allowing only shallow, half-hearted breaths where the fresh air used to be a balm to my soul. Now, it’s her that will soothe me, only her. But our lives are a thousand miles apart and worlds away from each other.
Thoughts of taking her to the meadow, of easing her down off her mount and laying on top of her, consume me. My hard body blanketing her under the warm sunlight, kissing her until she arches into me and asks for more.
So much more.
I shake the memories of last night away, my cock already painfully full. I focus, fixed now in the present moment, watching her as her eyes flit towards me. She sits mounted on the horse, waiting.
She knows it will be just us today. I wonder: does she ache inside, the way that I ache for her?
It’s not just her beauty that’s drawn me. It’s something deeper. She’s smart. I see it in her, but I’ve also listened as Harriet and Buck have talked about the current group occupying our cabins as a respite from their hectic lives.
There’s strength in her, and softness too. I see it, they see it. Hell, I’ve watched her on Rooster as well, and I’m damned sure he sees it.
He’s as much a mind reader as he is a horse. He can sense an unkind spirit. But he’s taken to Mary Beth like I’ve never seen. In fact, I think I may have to fight him for her if push comes to shove.
Harriet and Buck gossip about the new arrivals every week. They see their files, sure, but they look them up too. Investment bankers, junior partners in law firms, real estate developers, we get them all. I never used to care, either. Used to ignore all that. But now I listen to everything, in case there is some crumb of information about her.
So far, I know she’s already graduated from Columbia University in New York City. A journalism major who dreams of living abroad and exploring the world, then sharing it through her writing.
I’ve never left Montana, and until she came around, I never considered that to be odd. Or a problem. Now, thinking she could leave, it is a problem. A big fucking problem. Because there’s no way I’ll let her go.
I shift in my saddle, trying to find comfort for my ever-present erection, but relief evades me. I can barely concentrate on the ranch and the work I used to love. My mind is consumed with thoughts of her naked, mouth open, legs spread.
So vulgar.
So obscene.
So beautiful and perfect, and only for me.
She looks over at me now, green eyes piercing my heart and driving blood into my girth. My balls are heavy, weighed down with what I want to give her.
Today will be the closest I’ve ever come to her. When I prayed over my breakfast this morning, I asked God to please give me this one thing. Fulfill the dreams I didn’t know I had until I saw her.
In the six months we’ve had the dude ranch up and running, I’ve seen my share of city beauties pass through here, looking for fresh air and freedom under the big sky.
None of them ever did to me what Mary Beth has done. She’s ruined me, and I’ve never even touched her. Barely spoken to her besides a ‘Hello’ and a tip of my hat. I don’t usually work with the guests directly. I run the cattle and let Buck and Harriet take care of the tourist ranch duties. Up until two days ago, that sat just fine with me.
I don’t find I have much to talk about with anyone, unless they know cattle and ranching. The tourist deal was my sister Harriet’s idea. She decided she wanted to introduce people to our way of life at five thousand dollars a week, so we built a few cabins, and I have to hand it to her, it’s taken off.
I didn’t care much either way. We have the space, and Harriet said she’d take care of everything. I just needed to pay the bills and be polite. Paying the bills isn’t much of a problem. I don’t spend much, Harriet gets a nice salary out of it, and so does Buck, my partner.
Although we keep cattle around, I don’t sell them off like I used to. For the most part, they’re pets. More like props for the ranch.
I have three oil wells on the back end of the property that have been producing enough oil to keep us sitting pretty for a couple of generations.
So that’s been my lot in life. Until fate took a hand.
You see, Mary Beth has something called a travel blog, and she also writes features for websites and travel magazines. Harriet insisted I take her out on the ride today myself, to give her an ‘ authentic cowboy experience ’ for her article.
Shit, I’ve got so many authentic cowboy experiences I want to give her she won’t walk right for a month.