Chapter 8
Eli looked out over the land. He was sitting in his favorite spot, thinking about his problems. He had found the cut fencing that Jerry had mentioned, but he also discovered another one. Not down. Cut. Someone had deliberately tried to sabotage them. It wasn’t a big thing, but it was enough to worry him. More than likely, it was Sam or his son. It wouldn’t hurt them in the long run. He would have to send hands out to check their perimeter fencing. In the end, it would just take time away from the running of the ranch. Just something to irritate him. What they didn’t know was he didn’t need any help in that area lately.
He rolled his shoulders as he tried to get his temper under control. It had more to do with Crysta than any petty little shit like cutting their fencing. He’d been on edge since she arrived and now he’d apparently reached a boiling point. He directed most of his surly attitude toward Crysta, but now it starting to spill over to the staff. More than once he had found himself growling at one of the hands. He could tell other people it was just the adjustment of having Crysta at the ranch. But he knew better. It was plain and simple jealousy.
He had no right. She wasn’t his, never would be. Too many complications and there was something he tried to avoid with women and that was complications. Still, he had been rude on more than one occasion, even though he knew it was wrong. It wasn’t Crysta’s fault he was so attracted. As a Dom, he had never had this problem. Control was something he needed in all areas of his life, but especially with women. He had learned that lesson long ago.
Still, because he couldn’t seem to keep her out of his dreams, it was starting to interfere with his judgement. When he arrived in the kitchen, Eli had been pissed. Morning time was their time alone, to talk over things. Crysta was always full of stories of her childhood and sadly, he hung on every word. When he saw Jerry, it took every bit of his legendary control not to boot the manager out of the kitchen.
He needed to find a way off the island. If he went to Oahu, he would raise Crysta’s suspicions. In the past, he wouldn’t have cared, but for some reason, he didn’t want her to know he was going over to Rough ‘n Ready. But if he stayed, he was going to continue to be a total ass to her.
Worse, he had no right. On the day-to-day business, she did a good job. She seemed content to work with the hands every now and then, plus, she exercised a few of the horses that weren’t being used that much. She even mucked out the stalls alongside of the workers. He’d thought she would be a pain in the ass, but she had stepped back and let him take control.
Just that phrase had his body reacting. Knowing she was a sub wasn’t helping.
Knowing he had wasted enough time, he turned his horse and headed back to the barn. He’d look at the schedule when he got back and decide when to hop over to Oahu. It might be the only thing to keep him sane.
It took him less than fifteen minutes to make it back. A few of the men glanced his way as he rode up to the barn. He knew he’d been a bastard, but he didn’t give a bloody damn. The last few days he’d been out of sorts and he knew the reason. He gave up avoiding her and trotted down into the yard. He was going to have to talk to Jerry about the fence being down. It was quiet for an afternoon, but he knew they had moved some of the cattle over to another pasture so almost everyone would be out there working on that. Still, he expected one of the hands to be around in the yard.
Eli dismounted and made his way over to the barn.
“So, you like to ride, yeah?” a male voice said.
He heard the question and his mind came up with all kinds of different scenarios. He didn’t even stop to think before storming into the barn. She was standing there with Kana Bentley one of the best men on the ranch—not to mention married. He was devoted to his wife, but apparently, that didn’t matter to Eli.
Stepping into the barn, he found Crysta talking to the younger man. She was hanging up her tackle as if she had been out for a ride.
“I competed when we lived in Texas.”
“Wow. I had no idea. I mean, Joe talked about you a lot, but he never said you competed.”
She shot the man a smile over her shoulder. “Barrel racing. I was top racer in a three-county area.”
That was about enough for Eli. “Bentley, don’t you have something to do?” Eli asked.
Bentley turned around and his face turned red. The boy was all of twenty-one and married to his high school sweetheart. It didn’t matter to Eli. He just wanted the little bastard gone.
“Yes, sir. It was nice talking to you, Crysta.”
He scurried out of the barn giving Eli a few worried glances. Crysta waited until he was gone to confront Eli. If he had thought she wouldn’t fit in at the ranch, he had been mistaken. She was wearing a worn pair of jeans that hugged her generous hips; the red shirt and cowboy hat completed the outfit.
And she was looking at him as if he’d grown a second head.
“Do you want to tell me what that was all about?”
No, he didn’t. He didn’t want her to know exactly why he wanted to rip both of Bentley’s arms out of their sockets and beat him over the head with them. It was embarrassing him as a boss and a Dom that he was barely keeping his temper in check.
“I just think he has better things to do.”
“I was talking to him about the festival you have here at the ranch every fall. That’s part of being a half owner.”
With that statement, she folded her arms beneath her breasts and gave him a stony stare. She was ticked off, but he didn’t know why. Worse, she probably thought crossing her arms like that was a form of protection. Instead, it pushed her breasts up so that he could get a better peek at them. That just made him want to see more.
He hadn’t been this out of control with his needs in years.
“Eli.”
He looked up at her face. “What?”
Okay, not very bright but it was the best he could do at. He had been walking around halfcocked and ready for action for the last couple of weeks. Eli figured he was bloody lucky he hadn’t passed out yet.
“I said, do you have an issue with me getting more involved.”
He wanted to scream, yes. But he couldn’t. Because then she would want an explanation of what the hell he was going on about. He wanted her in her room away from him, away from the hands, and strapped to the bed…shit.
He had to stop thinking about that. Knowing she was a sub was tempting him like never before. He didn’t like initiating a sub. It was involved and many times they tended to get attached to their first Dom. Eli was never around for the long haul. Someone like Crysta would be perfect. That is if she wasn’t his business partner.
“I’ve no problem with that, but make sure you’re careful around these men. They could easily take your openness as an invitation.”
He walked passed her then. He needed to get his horse unsaddled and fed before he lost control. If he concentrated on that, Eli wouldn’t think of how she would look on all fours as he slapped her ass with a riding crop.
Fuck.
“Elias St. John, I’m not done with you.”
He heard her footsteps behind him and he wanted to scream. He liked spunk in a woman, but this was getting to be too much.
“Bloody hell, woman. Will you give me a break?”
She stopped marching toward him and just stared.
“I’ve kept my hands off you for two weeks now, but you keep yammering on at me, then I’m going to lose it. Seriously lose it.” He bit out every word, unable to hide his frustration.
“What on earth are you talking about?”
He muttered something—even he wasn’t sure what the hell it was. Then, unable to ignore her, he dropped his horse’s bridle and stalked toward her. Her eyes widened as she started to back up. She came to an abrupt halt when she ran into the wall. He crowded her up against it, placing one hand beside her head.
He pulled his hat off with his free hand and dropped it on the floor, then leaned closer to let her see just what he was talking about. He was no longer halfcocked that was for sure. Surprise brightened her eyes, then, they darkened.
Fuck.
“I know you’re a sub and before you pretend to ask—as if you already didn’t know—you know I’m a Dom. Having you in my house, under my protection, is a little much for me to take. I’ve controlled myself—barely.” That scared him more than anything, and the fact that every night it had been a battle to keep from walking to her room. “I want you more ways than you can even imagine and I can’t deal with fighting. It just makes me fucking horny. Especially since you have that full, sexy mouth.” He stared at her lips then. Unadorned by lipstick or gloss, just natural. All Crysta. “Fuck.”
Finally, he gave into the need that had been building since he first set eyes on her. He slammed his mouth onto hers. At first, she didn’t react. Then, she did, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. The heat of her body, the smell of hay and leather had his head spinning. He wanted her then, right then. He wanted to pull those jeans off her and sink into her tight, wet pussy and lose himself. Right there in the barn up against the wall.
The sound of men approaching had him pulling away. She followed him, moaning her displeasure.
“Crysta, we have to stop.”
She opened her eyes slowly. “What?”
He tried not to be satisfied with the way her eyes had glazed with pleasure. Just knowing that she was as attracted to him as he was to her was only going to make matters worse.
She lifted her hand and touched her mouth with her fingers.
“We can’t do this. It just wouldn’t work.”
With that he turned around and went back to his horse. He might have appeared not to be paying attention to what she was doing but he was. Even with the noise in the yard and the sound of the animals, he was so in tune with her that he knew exactly what she was doing.
She hesitated, then slowly walked out of the barn. It took all his control not to run after her and take back what he said. He went through the motions of settling his horse in and then headed to the house. Jerry stopped him in the yard.
“I think you need to start being a little more professional around here, boss.”
It still bothered him that a man old enough to be his father called him boss. In the military, he had no problem with it, but now…after so many years of Joe being the boss, it seemed wrong. But no matter how many times he told the foreman, Jerry wouldn’t listen to Eli.
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, seems that Kana got the impression that you’re hung up on Ms. Miller.”
Not good. And he knew better than to lie outright to Jerry. He could sniff out a liar.
“She’s attractive, I give you that. But Bentley’s upset because he was in there flirting with her and I kicked his ass out to work.”
The older man studied him for a moment then nodded. “Just make sure you behave yourself. Joe wouldn’t want any harm to come to his niece. He loved that girl.”
He wanted to argue that he wouldn’t hurt her, but then it would be admitting that he was more than just a little attracted.
“I know he did. Don’t worry, I’ll keep Crysta safe and sound.”
“Did you get that fencing fixed up?” Jerry asked as he walked side by side to the house with Eli.
“Yeah. We need to call up Mitch Smith at the county. Looks like it was cut.”
“You don’t think it was Sam, do you?”
“That was my first thought but it’s on the opposite side from his ranch. Well, the second one I found was.”
“There was a second one?”
Eli nodded. “Yeah. We need to send some men out to check the perimeter. Gonna be a pain in the ass, but better safe than sorry. It’s not anything that bad, more like a diversion, so if Sam were smarter, I would say it was him. But we both know he isn’t that smart.”
Jerry chuckled. “Yeah. Brains sort of missed the train for both of them. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, boss.”
He watched the old man walk away. He’d been with Joe longer than anyone and Eli knew he could trust him. But, unfortunately, he was about the only one. There were a lot of new faces around the place and while he knew many of them, he didn’t know how far he could trust them.
With a sigh, he knew he had to call Dillon and see what he had dug up and now he would have to have a background check on everyone working there.
At least it might keep his mind busy and off Crysta—but he knew that was a lie. At least it might help a little. It would also give him an excuse to pop on over to Oahu and everything could get back to normal.
As he made his way up the stairs, he was stopped by a shout. Danny Aiona was riding into the yard along with Freddy, another hand.
“Boss, we have a problem,” Danny said, barely waiting for his horse to come to a halt before dismounting.
“Slow, down Aiona,” Eli said. He noticed Jerry was already making his way over too, a grim expression on his face.
“We got some cattle missing, boss.”
Jerry sighed and gave Eli a look.
“Damn, and I thought I’d have an early night of it. Let’s call it in.”
“And you need to go tell your partner,” Jerry said.
“Yeah. You call, I’ll tell her.”
He just hoped she would ignore what happened earlier and focus on the present. Knowing Crysta, she would and for some reason, that pissed him off. He brushed those thoughts away and made his way into the house. Rustling wasn’t usually a problem, but when it happened, there was usually an agenda.
He had to go tell his partner her family apparently hated her enough to steal from her.
The day just kept getting better and better.
* * *
Hours later,they were sitting in the kitchen and Eli wanted to beat the hell out of the Kaheakus. It had more to do with Crysta than the ranch. She looked washed out, beaten. He knew it wouldn’t be long before she was back up fighting, but knowing someone you’re blood related to pulled this shit, well, it had to suck.
“Will they find the cattle?”
He nodded. “I bet they’ll be on our land before we know it. That or they’ll claim they came over of their own free will.”
“Jerks.”
“Not much we can do about it; although, I am pretty sure someone cut that line. Looked like it.”
She sighed and rose out of her chair. “It’s been a long day. I’m off to bed.”
“Are you going to tell your father about this?”
“Yeah. No avoiding it this time. Not that he has to be kept up with everything I am doing, but I think I should tell him about this. Hopefully, he won’t feel the need to pop over on an unannounced visit.”
“Don’t you want to see him?”
“Not if he comes over pissed off. Then he will be all about making Sam cry. While it would be entertaining, it could kill Sam. He’s barely hanging on by a thread as it is. And then my dad would go to jail for murder or manslaughter or whatever.”
Eli nodded. He watched her turn away and wanted to say something. Do something. She looked so sad.
“Hey, Crysta.”
She looked back at him again. “You shouldn’t let it get to you. Sam’s a bastard to everyone. Even his own son.”
She gave him a small, tired smile. “Thanks.”
He watched her walk around the corner and disappear upstairs.
It was a sad day for a man when that little, pathetic smile was more of a turn on than a naked woman…unless it was that woman naked.
He scrubbed a hand over his face. He really needed a trip to Rough ‘n Ready.