Chapter 10
CAM
Taylor stirred in my arms, then came to full awareness from one second to the next, sitting up in bed so fast she whacked my chin with the top of her head.
“Oh my God, what time is it?” she shrieked, glancing at my bedside clock.
The sheet fell to her waist and I admired the view in the early morning light.
“I’m late. I have to get to work. I have no clothes and my car’s at my Dad’s.” She’d been up only a few seconds and already had a long list.
I sniffed, then glanced at the clock myself. Six-fifteen.
“Okay, I’ll get you there,” I said, my voice rough with sleep. “Come to the clinic when you’re done?”
She shook her head, her long hair floating around her in a messy cascade.
I loved this sight of her. Besides her anxiousness, she was well rested, had bedhead and a flush from being held in my arms all night.
Plus, her body… fuck me, it was so soft and pale it practically glowed against my dark sheets.
I’d watched her ride me, her perfect tits bobbing as she moved.
It was something I was never going to forget.
And she was all mine.
“–after until they close at six.”
I missed half of what she said because I was studying her perfect tits. I had so many things I wanted to do to her–with her–like sucking on those nipples. I wondered how they tasted. I knew they responded so well to my hands.
“Cam!”
My gaze worked my way up to hers, completely unrepentant. My dick was so fucking hard and it wasn’t from morning wood. “Hmm?”
“I work at Wild Wild Wilderness for the morning tour, then I go to the Feed and Seed. I’ll be there until six.”
I frowned and tried to get my brain to work. Usually, I needed a cup of coffee, but now I was distracted by her. Naked. My cum seeping from her. “You… have two jobs?”
She pushed her hair back, but it fell right back into her face. “Yes. I need the money. Mortgage. Electricity. Food.”
That sounded normal, but what wasn’t was that she was living in her childhood home. A home that belonged to her father. “What about your dad? Can’t he pay his own mortgage?”
She hopped from the bed, which gave me a delectable view of her bare ass.
“He hasn’t had a steady job since I was fourteen.”
I pushed up onto my elbows to watch her. “You mean his drinking?”
She sat on the edge of the bed and tugged on her sweats that I’d dropped to the floor when I’d undressed her.
“Yes. He hasn’t been the same since Mom died.
Started drinking right away but it got bad enough where he lost his job as an accountant.
Then he tried other things around town, but a boss likes an employee to show up. And be sober.”
I could only imagine. I had a few employees and I couldn’t imagine what I’d do if one of them showed up trashed or erratic. No, I knew exactly what I’d do. I’d fire them.
“So you’re working your ass off to take care of him?” I asked, trying to get my head around her situation. Walking in last night wasn’t the full picture, it seemed.
She looked over her shoulder at me. Nodded. “Our fight started because he was going through my purse looking for money. Money I didn’t have.”
I sat up and reached for her. “Why are you even living there?”
She glanced at me over her shoulder. “Because I have no money. It’s all used up as soon as I get paid.”
Meaning her father spent it on his drinking and she didn’t have enough to live anywhere else.
“You like your jobs?” I asked.
She sighed. “I like Wild Wild Wilderness. I love the animals and the tourists are always fun. But horseback riding tours are seasonal and will drop off in the next few weeks until late spring, so I’ll have to pick up more time at the Feed and Seed.
Andy’s nice and all, but counting stock and loading feed bags into farmers’ trucks isn’t what I want to do with my life. ”
I could only imagine. And why the hell was Andy having her load feed bags? I’d felt every inch of her body. Knew how toned her muscles were, but I was gonna need to have a talk with the guy.
Instead of sharing that with her, I asked, “What is it you want to do?”
She was young. I didn’t ask how old she was, but if she was Shep’s age, that made her twenty-two or twenty-three.
A decade younger than me. I’d known I wanted to be a vet since the time I found a bird that had hit one of the windows and nursed it back to health when I was seven.
I worked hard, but the business was mine.
It was growing and I was taking it in a direction I wanted it to go. I had a say in what I did every day.
She didn’t.
“I thought I’d go into nursing, but that requires a college degree. I’m past that now.”
I studied her. “I can see you as a nurse.”
Reaching down, she grabbed her sweatshirt and–sadly–threw it on, covering the body I’d just started to get to know. That I was obsessed with. Then she turned to face me fully, set her hands on her hips.
“You’re thinking of me in a slutty nurse’s uniform, aren’t you?” She asked, with one red eyebrow arched.
“Oh yeah.” I grinned. Couldn’t help it. I even reached down and palmed my dick. “I have a problem right now that might need your attention.”
She rolled her eyes, then grinned.
“If you don’t like the Feed and Seed, come work for me,” I offered.
Her hands fell to her sides. Her mouth opened and closed a few times. “Work for you? At the vet clinic? Cam, I only have a high school diploma.”
I shrugged. “You have a lot of experience with horses. I saw you in action last night. Plus, Katie said as much. I’m not asking you to neuter a cat.
Nat, my receptionist, is going on maternity leave next month.
I need someone to cover for her, then probably job share because she doesn’t want to come back full time.
I was expecting to answer phones, make appointments, and still do surgeries for the next few months.
You can also help with checking in patients, taking temps, and things like that.
There’s kennel work and then I need an assistant when I go out to ranches.
Lots of hands on with horses, although not as much as with Katie and Bray. ”
She cocked her head to the side and studied me. “This isn’t code for coming back here to have sex?”
A grin tugged at my mouth. “What a naughty mind you have, red. Has it always been like this or only ever since I popped your cherry?”
She flushed as red as a cherry and I loved it. “Are you serious?” she asked, all joking aside.
She worked two jobs, took care of a deadbeat dad and paid all the bills for both of them. Since she was fourteen? Seriously?
“You don’t love the Feed and Seed, then come work for me,” I repeated.
“I admit, the offer is very selfish because then I’ll see you all the time.
Or, I bet Katie would take you back. She’s pregnant and I know for sure Bray’s not letting her on a horse, let alone near the back end of one.
She can’t lift anything either. You want a second job, you go work for them. ”
She smiled and I reached out and tugged her back onto the bed. I couldn’t help myself.
“Cam!”
I leaned over her and kissed the side of her neck. If I got her lips or any part of her body now covered in cozy cotton, she wouldn’t be out of this bed for the rest of the day.
“Come work for me,” I repeated. “Or Katie. But me, first. Tell Andy to fuck off.”
“I will not!” she shouted. “But I will quit at the Feed and Seed. Not Wild Wild Wilderness because the owner lets me use one of the horses for barrel racing.”
“Which you haven’t done recently,” I prodded. Not since July and the county fair.
“Which I haven’t done,” she agreed. “I’ll… I’ll get back to it when I don’t feel–”
“Guilty?”
She nodded.
“When you’re Taylor Wilder, you’ll race with your sister-in-law.”
She stared up at me. Wide eyed. I pretty much just told her we were getting married and she was taking my name.
“Call Katie,” I said. “Use one of her horses. Or hell, we’ll get you one.”
Her eyes widened. “Cam, you can’t just get me a horse!”
“Sure, I can. My Red needs a horse? I get you a horse. Like orgasms. I give my girl what she needs.”
I tickled her sides and she laughed. “You’re ridiculous,” she sputtered. “Okay, okay! I’ll work for you… and maybe Katie.”
Thank fuck.
“Good girl.” I rolled from the bed and walked into the bathroom. Before I shut the door, I looked her way. “Later, we’re gonna get your things from your house. You’re staying here from now on.”
I shut the door before there was any kind of discussion on the topic. Because there wasn’t going to be any. She’d given me her cherry behind The Roadside and I claimed her last night. My cum was inside her. There was no going back now.