23. Carson James
23
CARSON JAMES
“F
ancy meeting you here,” I said as I came up behind Lennon where she was stationed in front of my bedroom window. “How many times have I told you that you can go down there instead of watching from your tower?”
Lennon was watching a girl who had us boarding her horse as she galloped in the riding ring. The two of them looked good out there. She was a confident rider and had a great animal to work with.
“Brooke’s down there,” I said as I peppered Lennon’s neck with kisses. “Pretty sure I saw Becks heading over there to watch.”
She stiffened.
Lennon had tentatively agreed to stay, but I wasn’t convinced I wouldn’t find her trying to run away in the middle of the night.
I had never been this far gone for a woman. Sure, I had short-lived flings and hookups when the mood struck, but I had never wanted what my brothers had settled on early in life. The ring. The partner. The family. I had never cared about settling down because I hadn’t found someone like Lennon.
Screw that. I just hadn’t found Lennon yet.
And now that I had, I wasn’t letting her go. If she was running away, I’d pack a bag and follow her to the ends of the earth.
I wanted that sharp mouth and that quick-tempered wit. I wanted that body I spent the entirety of my days thinking about. I wanted her disciplined, organized, and methodical mind. I wanted her soft side. The stolen moments when she trusted me enough to take her armor off and hide in my arms.
Maybe I was crazy for thinking that far ahead, but no one ever succeeded by being cautious.
“I’m fine up here,” she said, her eyes tracking the horse as it jumped over fences and weaved around obstacles.
“You can go wherever you want, you know.” I pulled her into my chest. “Just don’t go wandering off the paths in the middle of summer like Brooke did. Heatstroke is a bitch.”
“Staff aren’t supposed to interfere with the guest areas or the ranching operations.”
“You’re not just staff.”
Her eyes were shrewd and mistrusting. “Then what am I?” Her palms flattened against my chest. “I’m not a cowboy.”
“You’re mine. And that’s all that matters.” I wrapped Lennon up in my arms and buried my nose in the crook of her neck, dotting her skin with kisses. “How are you not going stir crazy? You’ve been in here for a day and a half.”
There was a sad sort of smile on her lips. “I like being alone. Sleeping in peace and quiet in a bed still feels like a luxury. There’s not a whole cell block making noise at all hours of the night. I’m not cramped up in my car.” She let out a slow breath. “It’s peaceful.”
I held her a little tighter. “Thank you for trusting me.”
Warm brown eyes met mine with overwhelming sincerity. “Thank you for working for it.”
I chuckled. “Best advice I ever got was, ‘When you’re in a hole, the easiest way to get out is to stop digging and start scooping the dirt back inside.’ Saying you’re sorry goes a long way. People don’t do it enough these days. They’re too worried about what will happen if they admit they’re wrong. So, for what it’s worth, I’m still sorry.”
“Thank you,” she said into my chest.
I rubbed her back as we stood at the window and watched the horses. My sisters-in-law had convened along the fence, and it looked like they were laughing about something.
I swore then and there that Lennon would join them someday.
She had Cassandra’s tenacity, Brooke’s heart, and Becks’s intuition. But more than that, she had a strength that I had only seen in one other person.
My mom.
I had heard my parents’ tale of how my dad won over my mom damn near a million times. Few men would fake a job offer and pay her salary out of his pocket to keep her near. Few people would willingly endure rejection for an entire year. But my dad always swore up and down that my mom was the only woman he wanted to live this life with.
I never understood it until now.
“Want me to go down there with you?” I asked, hoping I could tempt her into leaving the bunkhouse.
“I’m fine up here, babe.”
Our eyes locked as her mouth dropped open in surprise. My heart ricocheted in my chest.
Lennon stammered as she pulled away. “I—I didn’t mean to say—I shouldn’t have?—”
I grabbed her wrists and put her palms back on my chest. “Say it again.”
She shook her head. “It was a slip of the tongue. I wasn’t thinking, and I?—”
“Len,” I whispered as I cupped her chin and drew her lips to mine. “Say it again.”
“I’m fine up here,” she murmured.
I shook my head. “You know better than that, trouble. Say the other thing.”
I watched the graceful lines of her throat constrict as she swallowed. Her voice was barely audible as she closed her eyes and rested her forehead on mine. “I’m fine up here, babe.”
Our lips met like soft whispers of wind dancing with each other across the plains. The taste of coffee on her tongue as it slid along mine was the strongest fix. I soaked up her soft moans and gentle whimpers as she took some of the weight off her body and put it on me.
We stood there, lingering in the morning light. She relaxed in my arms, sharing sampled kisses like a wine tasting.
“Thank you for letting me hold you,” I said as I pressed a kiss to her forehead.
She let out a soft laugh. “You are the most polite troublemaker I’ve ever met.”
“I’ve heard that a time or two. Don’t get my mom started, or she’ll tell stories about me for a week.”
Lennon’s smile tugged at my heart as she burrowed into me and closed her eyes.
I rocked between my feet, making her sway with me. “I know it’s self-sabotage to take a world-class chef out to dinner, but can I take you on a date?”
She laughed. “I’m far from world class. Chef DeRossi is world class, but I’m not.”
“Well.” I kissed her again. “Considering the ranch is my world, I’d say that makes you world class to me.”
She kicked me out of my own damn house.
I paced the swatch of grass beside my truck as I waited for Lennon to come out. I decided that if she didn’t come down to the truck in the next ninety seconds, I’d go up there, break down the door, throw her over my shoulder, and walk her out my damn self.
She was down to five seconds when the door to the bunkhouse finally opened and closed.
I lifted my cowboy hat from my head and pressed it to my chest.
My God, that woman was going to give me a heart attack.
A skin-tight dress wrapped around Lennon, stopping mid-thigh. Her long legs, thick thighs, and that ass nearly made me swallow my tongue. The straps that crisscrossed her back left her sleeves of tattoos on full display.
Her hair was down in soft curls, toning the edge that she sported day and night.
“Sorry,” she grumbled as she tugged at the hem of the dress. “Apparently, I don’t own anything that isn’t black, and I haven’t worn this in forever and?—”
“Len.” I pushed away from the hood of my truck and stalked toward her. “Shut up. You look beautiful.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“Don’t believe me?” I said as I slid my hands up and down, digging my fingers into her waist, hips, and the soft curve of her lower stomach. “Turn around.”
Eyes peered through every window shade in the bunkhouse. Lennon’s lips parted in shock when she saw what I saw.
“They can’t stop staring at you, and I can’t blame ’em.”
It was a warm day, but Lennon still had my ranch jacket draped in the crook of her arm. I took it from her and held it up so she could slip her arms in.
“You take my breath away,” I murmured as she shimmied into the jacket and stuffed her hands in the pockets.
She let me open the door for her and held my hand as I helped her up onto the truck’s running board. We drove into town in silence, hands laced together, with Bruce Springsteen on the radio.
“I figured you’ve probably had enough steak and potatoes at the restaurant,” I said as I parked in a space at the edge of the downtown district.
All the traffic brought in by the ranch guests had begun to revitalize the area. New specialty shops and boutiques catered to tourists who wanted to shop for unique, local finds during their stay.
Lennon laughed as she unbuckled her seat belt. “You’re not wrong. I love steak, but the smell has gotten a little old.”
“How do you feel about food trucks?” I asked as I opened her door and helped her down. “I know it’s not fancy, but the food is solid.”
She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, giving the wafting aroma of street tacos, barbecue, and Thai food a tentative sniff.
“Yes, please,” she groaned. “I want one of everything.”
I laced our hands together and we walked to a vacant lot. Food trucks had parked in a circle, leaving the middle for picnic tables, cornhole, and horseshoes.
“Do you come out here often?” Lennon asked as she gave my hand a little squeeze.
I laughed. “No. I’m a homebody. I don’t leave the ranch unless I have to.”
She looked at the sidewalk, watching her steps. “I wouldn’t either.”
Then don’t, I thought to myself.
“If you never leave the ranch, you’d at least have to leave the bunkhouse.”
She huffed. “I know what you’re getting at.”
“You don’t have to be a stranger. My family already loves you. Why do you think they started having family dinners at the restaurant instead of up at my folks’ place? We used to have family dinners at their house at least once a week. Usually more.”
“Probably so no one has to cook?” Lennon guessed.
“Fair, but no.” I nudged her shoulder with mine. “One of these days you’ll stop and realize that the only person who doesn’t love you is you. And when you have that realization, I hope it makes you want to stay where you’re celebrated.” I lifted our clasped hands to my mouth and kissed her knuckles. “Because I adore you.”
“You must’ve been kicked in the head by a horse,” she sassed.
It felt like I had been. Everything about Lennon threw me off. I had never been in love before. I didn’t even know what it felt like, just that it had completely fucked up my brothers in every conceivable way.
But now, I understood it.
I stopped Lennon dead in her tracks. “I fell for you the moment you punched a guy in a bar and pushed me out of the way so you could get some ice. Because you’re tough, but you’re human. I like watching you kick ass. But more than that, I like it when you feel safe enough to be hurt around me.”
Lashes fluttered as she tried to blink away the glassiness in her eyes. “Stop fucking talking. I don’t know how to handle it when you’re all sweet.” Her lip quivered, warping her words. “It’s giving me a cavity.”
“Eleanor.”
We both froze at the sound of her government name. But neither of us had uttered it.
Lennon’s eyes widened in terror. “I’m not going to look,” she whispered. Her hand tightened around mine as she gritted out, “Keep walking. Not too fast.”
I followed her lead, walking down the sidewalk, not too fast and not too slow.
“Eleanor!” the woman shouted again from behind us.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lennon watching the storefront windows to try to get a glimpse of the person attached to the voice.
“WF-372891!”
Lennon stumbled, but didn’t look back. “Take me back to the truck,” she clipped. “ Right now .”
We rounded the block, slipping into stores and narrow alleys, trying to lose whomever it was so they wouldn’t follow us back to the truck.
By the time we made it back to the parking space and climbed in, Lennon was nearly in tears.
So much for a first date.
“You’re safe with me,” I said as I pulled out of the spot and headed back to the ranch. “You hear me? I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Lennon’s head pressed against the back of the seat as she struggled to keep her breathing under control.
“Did she have red hair, or did I hallucinate that?”
The truck rumbled beneath us as we bumped and bobbed over the pothole-riddled street.
“I think so,” I said as I glanced in the mirrors to make sure no one was following us. “What was that she shouted at you? That number.”
Lennon sucked in a deep breath. “An inmate ID.” She swallowed. “It wasn’t mine.”
“Do you think it was hers? Whoever she is?”
Lennon shrugged. “Could be.”
There was only one other person who it could have belonged to. “Do you think it was your brother’s?”
“No. WF means it was from a women’s federal prison. I think that was the same person who followed me at the gym. You know—the night of the storm.”
“The one that showed up at your car?”
She nodded.
“Okay,” I said as I held her hand against my thigh. I didn’t know if I was trying to convince her or myself that things were going to be alright. “I’ll tell you one thing. You look too damn good for us to let this night go to waste.”
I put my backup plan into action the moment we got back to the ranch. By the time Lennon walked into the ranch office, I was lighting the candles and finishing touches on our dinner spread.
“If you tell me you cooked that, you’re going to put me out of a job,” Lennon said with a laugh as she navigated the filing cabinets and neared Cassandra’s desk.
I had done a damn good job if I said so myself.
I didn’t think Cassandra would mind if I moved her files, and if she did, I didn’t really care.
I had thrown a tablecloth over the desk, picked some flowers outside, and stuffed them in a vase. I’d also stolen some wine glasses, silverware, and candles from the restaurant.
“I did not cook,” I said as I took her hand and pulled the rolling chair out for her. “But I did ask the cooks at the restaurant to make something that isn’t steak. Julian came through for me.”
Lennon laughed as she peered at the professionally plated dinners. “Pasta is my love language. I love carbs.”
“Good. Sit, and I’ll pour the wine.”
“You know there’s a perfectly good table at the bunkhouse,” she said as she picked up her fork. “Why are we eating in Cassandra’s office?”
“Dinner at home is easy.” I took the office chair across the desk from her. “I told you I play for keeps, trouble. And once upon a time, this was how a Griffith brother got his girl.”