Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
brADY
“ I ’m riding Man Hater,” I say into the microphone and push away as the audience cheers. The music is so fucking loud, it pounds through my body, but I don’t hear the words. I’m focused, head down, pacing outside of the chute area.
I want to start the season right, with a win and a high score, and Man Hater is the highest-standing bull right now. He’s going to help me get that score.
Finally, it’s time to start. The bull is already in the chute, ready to go, and I go about my usual routine, looking him over in a split second, making sure the ropes and grips are where I want them. Holding onto the railing, I set my foot on his back, letting him know I’m here before I settle onto him, get my grip set, and tell my man to tighten the rope.
Finally, I nod, and they open the chute, and this son of a bitch takes off, bucking and throwing himself around like a fucking devil.
But I hold on, finding his rhythm, clinging to him until I hear the buzzer, and then I let go and fall, scrambling out of his way as Man Hater continues to buck and throw a fit.
I wave at the audience, who are going out of their minds, and then I take off my hat and gloves, ready to give interviews as we wait for my final score.
It’s all a blur. It always is. I hope I sound somewhat coherent as I answer questions, but the adrenaline is rushing through me so fast I’m almost euphoric.
Ninety-seven point seven.
Not my best score, but with it being the first ride of the season, I’ll take it. I have room to improve, but I’m also the highest-scoring rider of the night, and that feels fucking good.
Finally, after another hour of interviews and talking with friends that I haven’t seen in a few months, I check my phone and see that I have a text from Ryan.
“I’m coming through Cheyenne to pick you up in my plane. I’ll be waiting at the airport.”
I don’t have to wait for tomorrow morning’s flight, and that sends relief through me. Because as exhilarating as the past thirty-six hours have been, I’m ready to go home to my girls.
I take a quick shower before I gather my things, and ignore the come-ons from the bunnies as I walk through the arena and find the ride Ryan has waiting for me to take me to the small, local airport.
When I climb the stairs onto the plane, I find my brother sitting in a seat, staring down at his laptop. He takes off his glasses and grins up at me.
“How’d it go?”
“It’ll get better, but I had the highest score. Rode Man Hater.”
“That bull is a mean bastard,” he says, shaking his head.
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“And how do you feel ?”
The door of the plane closes, and the flight crew prepares for takeoff, so I sit across the aisle from my brother and fasten my seatbelt.
“Like I got tossed around by a pissed-off bull.” I chuckle and sit back in the seat for a second, letting my system settle. “You didn’t have to pick me up.”
“You shouldn’t have gone commercial,” he counters. “If I’m home, you can take the plane. You’ll get out and back faster, and I’m paying this crew whether I use them or not.”
“You are?”
He nods, and I shrug.
“Hell, I’ll take you up on that, then. This fucker is fancy. ”
The flight attendant asks me if I’d like something to drink.
“Do you have ibuprofen? And some whiskey. Maybe a bottle of water.”
“Of course, sir,” he says with a nod and turns to fetch it.
“Fancy,” I say again to my brother, who just smirks. “Where are you coming home from, anyway?”
“I had to make a quick trip to New York for a couple of days for a meeting. I was on my way home, so we made a detour to grab you.”
“Appreciate it.” I accept the pills, and the drinks are set on the table in front of me. Now that the adrenaline is wearing off, the aches have set in. I’ll be stiff as a fucking board by morning. I knock back the pills and the whiskey and then open the bottle of water and take a sip. “How’s Polly?”
“The best thing that has ever happened to me.”
I roll my eyes at him, making him chuckle. “Yeah, yeah, but how is she feeling?”
“She’s tired most of the time. The third trimester is no joke. I felt the baby kick.”
“No shit?” I grin and take a sip of water. “That’s crazy. Wait, is it a boy or a girl? Why don’t I know this?”
“We want to be surprised.”
I stare at him for a hot second. “That’s stupid. You need to find out because you know that all of the girls, including the moms, will want to buy all the shit in the universe. They need to know colors and stuff.”
“There’s a lot of gender-neutral options, you know.”
“Leave it up to you to be difficult.” I shake my head, but I can’t keep the smile off my face. “It’s exciting. Now, when are you going to marry her?”
“She set a date for early fall because she didn’t want to have the baby bump in the photos. I was fine either way. I just want her to be happy, and I know she’s mine for the rest of my life, so the legalities don’t really concern me so much. We’ll make it official before the end of the year.”
“You’re so fucking laid-back about it all. So calm and collected.”
“There’s no need to be worked up. Not anymore. Anyway, how are things with you and Abbi? You looked good at the branding the other day.”
“Things are great,” I confirm. “It’s kind of a pain in the ass to drive from town to the ranch every day, but in the grand scheme of things, I suppose it’s not a huge deal.”
“I guess you’re about ready to build that house, then.” He lifts his eyebrows as we take off into the air, and I nod slowly.
“If they’ll agree to ranch life, then yeah, I’m past ready. But her business is in town, and I don’t love the idea of her making that drive every day.”
“So is Polly’s, but she makes the drive for it. It’s really not that bad, Brady. The family’s been doing it forever.”
“Yeah, I know. I need to talk to her about it. She told me that she loves being out on the ranch, and I know that Daisy gets a kick out of it. The kid loves the horses. Actually, she loves all of the animals and wants a mini cow, so that’ll happen.”
“Where do you think you’ll put a house?”
“That’s the thing, I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it because the cabin has suited me fine. I guess there is space near the cabin that would be good for a house and garage, and it’s close to my practice shed. We could use the cabin for a guesthouse or an office if someone wanted to use it.”
“I’m sure someone could find a use for it,” he agrees. “Since Abbi’s going to be living there, too, take her out and give her options. Find out what she wants.”
I watch him, pulling on my bottom lip, and start to make a plan.
“You know, sometimes you have some good ideas.”
“I have my moments.”
It’s late when Ryan drops me off at Abbi’s townhouse. The lights are off, and I should probably just go out to the ranch for the night and see her in the morning, but I fucking miss her.
I haven’t even been gone for two full days, and I miss her so much I ache with it.
After letting myself in through the front door, using the code Abbi gave me months ago, I lock it behind me and then pad upstairs to Abbi’s bedroom, but I peek in on Daisy as I pass by her room.
She’s zonked out, hugging Mr. Bunny close to her chest.
That girl is so fucking cute, I can hardly stand it.
When I walk into Abbi’s room, I see the light on in the bathroom, and then she’s walking out of it, wrapped in a satin pink robe, brushing her hair.
She jumps, clamps her hand over her mouth so she doesn’t scream, and then glares at me.
“You scared the shit out of me.” But then she’s running right into my arms, hugging me close. “You’re early, and it’s so good to see you. You’re okay? You’re not hurt?”
“Shit, I forgot to call you.” I bury my nose in her hair and kiss her head. “I’m not hurt. When I was finished, Ryan was waiting at the airport to bring me home, and all I could think about was getting here.”
“Next time, a text would be nice because I’ve been going out of my goddamn mind.”
I tip her face up and kiss her lips softly. “I’m sorry, baby.”
“Apology accepted.” She grins and opens her robe, revealing that she’s completely naked underneath, and my mouth goes dry. “Come to bed. It’s late.”
She moves for the bed, and I close the door, making sure it’s locked. When I turn back, already pulling my shirt out of my jeans, she’s shucked the robe and is lying on her side, head braced on her hand, watching me lazily.
“Were you happy with your ride?” she asks as I strip out of my clothes. Fuck me, I can’t get naked fast enough.
“That’s going to be my question in about twenty minutes.”
She tips her head back and laughs and then sighs when I take one nipple into my mouth as my hand journeys up the inside of her thigh.
“Lie back, baby. Let me make you crazy.”
She doesn’t argue. She shifts to her back, and her fingers dive into my hair as I kiss down her torso, headed for the promised land.
And when my mouth lands on her core, she arches, lifting her perfect tits in the air, and I spend the next few minutes wrapped up in making her come with my mouth.
With one finger inside of her, I can feel her start to quake, and I immediately move up the bed and cover her with wet kisses.
“I missed you,” I whisper into her ear, grinning when her hands land on my ass, urging me to push inside of her. “I fucking missed you so much, and I thought of exactly this more than I should have.”
“Brady,” she whispers into my ear. “I need you.”
I push just the tip inside and growl against the skin of her neck. One touch, one inch, and I’m ready to explode.
“More,” she says, and I give her what she wants, seating myself fully inside of her until we’re both moaning in satisfaction.
“You have to be quiet, baby,” I remind her with a grin. “We don’t want to wake up a certain someone.”
“Your fault,” she says and bites my chin. Her hands are everywhere, and I know that if she keeps touching me the way she is, I won’t last another minute.
“Hands on the headboard.”
She frowns, and I lift an eyebrow, and then I pull out of her and quickly move to the side of the bed, reach for her robe, and pull the belt off of it before returning to her.
Those gorgeous blue eyes flare with interest.
Abbi’s just full of sexy-as-fuck surprises.
When she mentioned the ropes the other night, it was all I could do not to carry her off caveman-style to fuck her senseless.
If she wants to play, we can play.
Without having to ask, Abbi touches the insides of her wrists together, holding them out to me willingly with so much trust and love in her eyes, it’s almost more than I can bear.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I murmur against her lips before kissing her, and then I wrap the satin belt around her wrists and secure them to the wrought-iron headboard with a knot that I can easily pull free if she needs or wants me to. “You’re in charge here, Blue Eyes. Don’t forget that.”
“This is sexy ,” she says and licks her lips. “And totally new. I don’t want to know if it’s new for you.”
I kiss her again. No, it’s not new to me, but it’s new with her , and that’s all that matters.
“Do you like it when I’m in control, Abbi?”
“Yes.” There’s no hesitation in her voice.
“Good.” Now that she’s lying before me, spread out for my pleasure, I move up to push my cock between her tits, watching her closely for any sign that she doesn’t like this.
But this little vixen just sticks her tongue out, asking for the tip of my cock.
Who am I to deprive my girl of what she needs?
I offer her the tip, and she licks greedily, pulling on the belt for leverage to get more of me in her mouth. I reach back and circle her clit with my finger; that little patch of nerves sends her body writhing, moaning around the crown of my cock.
“What a good girl,” I croon, and those eyes burn as she stares up at me. I never realized that giving praise was my kink until the first time the words good girl slipped out, and she came apart at the seams with the words.
She loves it.
And I’ll give it to her every single time.
She’s straining against the belt, but not in a let me go kind of way, but in a holy shit, this is hot kind of way, and watching her suck my cock is going to send me over the edge.
I pull out of her mouth slowly, replacing it with my thumb, and she happily sucks the digit while I make my way down her body, settle between her thighs, and push inside of her.
“Ah, fuck, baby.” With one hand, I jerk the belt free, and Abbi wraps those arms around my neck as I begin to fuck her a little harder, a little faster. “I never get enough of you.”
She bites her lip and moans, and I pick up the pace, chasing that climax for both of us, and when I feel her shudder around me and watch her fall off that ledge, I follow her over.
“How busy are you this afternoon?” I ask Abbi as she pours herself a cup of coffee and yawns.
“Not very,” she says. “I’ll be doing laundry and books this morning at the office, and then I should have a light afternoon until Daisy gets out of school at around three. Why do you ask?”
“I’d like you to come meet me at the ranch for a little while, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind. Are you going to tell me why?”
“Sure, when you get there.” I grin and kiss her, enjoying the way she feels when she’s all soft and warm from sleep. “Just head that way whenever you’re ready.”
“Okay. Do I need to bring anything?”
“Just you. I’d better go.”
“Brady,” she says when I turn to the door.
“Yeah?”
“How was yesterday? You never told me how you did.”
“You didn’t watch?” Remington and the others usually pull it up online as soon as I’m finished, and I assumed she did the same.
“No, I wanted to wait for you.”
She’s so fucking sweet. “It was a good ride. I ranked at the top when all was said and done, and I was happy with the way the season started.”
She smiles, and her shoulders ease. “Good. I’m so glad. Not too banged up?”
I hurt like a motherfucker today, but I just smile at her and tuck her hair behind her ear. “Not too badly. We’ll watch it together later, and I’ll give you a play-by-play.”
“I can’t wait.”
There’s no traffic at this time of day, so the drive out to the ranch only takes about twenty minutes or so, and I park at my cabin so I can change into clothes that can get fucked up before I head to the barn.
The hands are already out there to congratulate me on yesterday’s ride, and then we’re busy for the rest of the morning, cleaning the barn, exercising the horses, and the dozens of chores that never seem to end around here.
Several hours later, I hear a car outside, and then Abbi’s strolling into the barn, and my heart catches at the sight of her. She’s in jeans and a navy blue top with little yellow flowers on it that makes her eyes look even brighter than normal, which should probably be illegal in all fifty states.
“Hey, Cowboy,” she says with a wink. “I was summoned, so here I am.”
“Good. How do you feel about riding a horse?”
That stops her in her tracks, which makes me smirk. “ Today ?”
“I guess not.” I tip her chin up and kiss her. “But one day soon, I’m getting you on one. Let’s take the side by side.”
She frowns but follows me out of the barn to the all-terrain vehicle that I pulled out earlier so it would be ready when she got here.
“I have a whole bunch of questions for you,” I warn her. “And when I ask, it’ll be like a lightning round. Just say the first thing that comes to your mind.”
“You’re being quite peculiar today,” she says slowly but then smiles wide. “Okay, I’m game. Ask away.”
I’m heading in the opposite direction of the lake, toward the foothills of the mountains.
“Lakefront or foothills?”
“Uh, I don’t?—”
“Don’t overthink it. Just say whatever comes to mind.”
“Foothills, I guess. What about you?”
“I don’t matter, sweetheart. Okay, two-story or ranch?”
“Ranch. Are we?—”
“No interrupting.” I take her hand in mine and kiss her knuckles. “Wraparound porch or patio?”
“Porch, of course.”
“Landscaped or natural?”
She purses her lips. “A little of both.”
“Fascinating. Four bedrooms or five?”
“Four, I think. Brady, why are we playing twenty questions about houses?”
I pull to a stop at one of my favorite places on the ranch. It’s too close to the foothills for decent grazing land, and the views of the mountains in the opposite direction are gorgeous. It’s only about a quarter of a mile from my cabin, but the views are way nicer.
I get out of the side by side and offer Abbi my hand and then lead her to a fallen tree and gesture for her to sit.
“This is a gorgeous spot,” she says, looking around. She shields her eyes from the sun and stares out at the mountains. “It just never fails to take a girl’s breath away.”
“I don’t want to live in the townhouse forever.” The words just come tumbling out of me, and I swear under my breath as she turns her gaze to me and looks almost wounded. “I didn’t mean for that to sound as jacked-up as it did. It’s a nice place, and I love being there with the two of you. If that’s where you want to be forever, I guess that’s okay because I want you to be happy, but I really think we need to have a conversation.”
I take a breath, and Abbi stands, walks a few steps away, and turns to me, wrapping her arms around her middle.
“I’m confused,” she says. Of course, she is. I sound like an idiot. “I need you to just tell me what you want or what you’re trying to say here.”
I rub my hands over my face in agitation. “Why am I so nervous?”
“I don’t know, but you’re making me nervous. Are we breaking up, Cowboy?”
I’m off that log in a heartbeat, pulling her against me and kissing the hell out of her.
“No. No. Never. Jesus, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I want to talk about the living arrangements, that’s all, but I’m botching it up good. Okay, I’m just going to tell you what I want, in a perfect world, if I could snap my fingers and it just magically happened.”
“Please do.”
“I’d like to build a house out here for us. The cabin is way too small for a family. I want to build any house that you want and bring you and Daisy out here with me. I know that’s selfish as fuck, but I can’t help it. This is my home, but you’re where my heart lives, so I’ll go where you go. You want to live in Bolivia? We’ll live in Bolivia.”
“I’m partial to Montana,” she murmurs, the panic finally gone from her eyes.
“Well, good, because I am, too. Specifically, this piece of it. All the siblings are entitled to acreage out here. Rem has the majority because he technically owns and runs the ranch. Chase claimed his land by the lake, and Ryan already has his own ranch, although if he ever wanted it, he could claim property out here, too.
“I don’t know where Millie might want to be. And before you, I never really thought that hard about it, but I have been considering it over the past few days, and I am fond of this piece of land right here. Of course, if you’d like to be on the lake, closer to Chase and Summer, or anywhere else, really, we can do that.”
She clears her throat and walks away from me, her back to me as she stares out at the ranch and to the mountains beyond, and I’m sure that I just fucked everything up.
It’s too soon.
It’s too much.
She turns to me with tears in her eyes, and I want nothing more than to pull her to me and take it all back.
“Brady Wild, are you telling me that you want to build a house out here, on this beautiful ranch that has seeped into my bones and embedded itself onto my soul, for me and Daisy?”
“Well, yeah. I am. I mean, if you want the ring and the fancy proposal and all the rest, you’ll get that. I promise, you’ll get it. I’m planning every minute of my life around you, around what you want and need and how I can make sure you have it. But this is something that I can start right away, even while I’m traveling.”
She’s swiping at tears, and it just about brings me to my knees.
“Ah, baby, don’t cry.”
“I should tell you that it’s too much and that I can’t accept it.” She turns to look at the view again and shakes her head. “But I can’t because I want this, with you, more than anything.”
The relief is swift, and it propels me to her, and I wrap my arms around her from behind.
“Thank God. I was convinced that I was screwing everything up.” I kiss her hair, breathing her in. “It’ll mean a lot of driving for you to and from work.”
“I don’t care.” She sniffs and turns to me, reaching up to cup my cheek. “My townhouse was perfect for Daisy and me. It’s what I needed for us when we moved here, but it’s okay that it’s time for us to move on. It’ll be someone else’s safe place to land.”
“We’ll still be there until the house is finished, probably for about a year or so.”
“I can be patient.” She boosts up onto her toes and kisses me softly. “But I have to change one of my answers from earlier.”
I lift an eyebrow. “Which one?”
“With a view like this, we need two stories. I want the main bedroom on the second floor, with huge windows so I can look at that view every single morning as the sun comes up.”
“You can have whatever you want, baby.” I kiss her back, relieved that I didn’t ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to me. “We’ll get started right away.”
“Wait.” Her face falls. “We’re going to need a mortgage, and I don’t know if my credit?—”
“We don’t need a mortgage,” I reply with a smile. “You really don’t pay attention to the rodeo stuff, do you?”
“Uh, no. I’m sorry, I don’t.”
“Trust me. No mortgage needed.”
“Oh, I can’t ask you to just pay for everyth?—”
I cut her off with my mouth and pick her up, sit on the log, and settle her in my lap. Finally, I pull back and smile at her.
“I’ve got this, Abs. Trust me, okay?”
She sighs and leans into me, turning her head so she can stare at her new view.
“If you insist, I won’t say no.”
“Good. I insist.” I kiss her shoulder and watch the view with her. “It’s a damn good view, isn’t it?”
“The best one I’ve ever seen.”
I look up at her gorgeous face and smile. “My thoughts exactly.”