Chapter 7
7
SERENITY
S taring at myself in the mirror after I've finished taking care of what I'd been putting off while we were the bar, I contemplate the woman looking back at me.
She's rumpled and flushed. Her hair looks like it's going to take forever to work a comb through. The clear, blue eyes I'm used to seeing staring back at me look dark and hooded and more than a little drunk.
"Are you sure about this, Seri?" She asks. Obviously, she must be asking me, because the woman in the mirror looks like her own mind is made up one hundred percent.
My nod in agreement is enough to knock me off balance, and I grab the edge of the sink to steady myself as I share a conspiratory giggle with my reflection. We are definitely on the same page; we are going to go back out into that bedroom and let a rough, older cowboy have his way with us. And we are going to enjoy every minute of it.
The woman in the mirror nods emphatically while I splash a bit of cool water over my face and find the mouthwash. I'll leave the comb-through for another time.
While I do my best to transform the wrecked mess of wrinkled clothes and torn stockings into an image of the sultry, sexually confident vixen that I'm sure Ranger is expecting, I recite words of encouragement to myself under my breath, turning the affirmations into a nervous song in hopes of convincing myself that I really can go out there and do this without blowing my cover.
After all, it's still pretend.
Maybe Ranger and I really are attracted to each other, or maybe it's whiskey and the relief of having gotten through his father's memorial service and a day of facing down a woman who's obviously not over him that has us both eager to relieve some tension; but this still isn't a relationship-- and it's not going to be.
So whatever happens is just bonus over the opportunity he's already offering me to get in with the local families and hear their histories in their own words.
Ready, Serenity?
The woman in the mirror nods as she stifles a giggle.
Okay then. Let's go lose our virginity.
With a deep breath, I open the bathroom door and flick off the light.
There's some moonlight filtering in through the bedroom windows that adds to the soft illumination from a bedside lamp.
In the low light, I can easily make out the features of the room, from the chair beside the closet to the queen size bed that takes up the majority of the space.
The bedspread has been pulled nearly off and most of the covers along with it. Pillows are scattered, but no sign of the man that had been so eagerly waiting for me to return.
"Ranger?" I call into the dimly lit room softly. "Where'd you go?"
Coming closer to the bed, I see the sole of a cowboy boot, its heel propped on the edge of the mattress, whatever it's attached to invisible on the other side of the bed.
"Ranger?"
I climb onto the mattress and peer over the other side.
The boot is still attached to a foot, the foot is attached to a muscled leg, the leg is attached to a very naked cowboy sprawled on the floor and passed out cold.
"Seriously?" I grab the boot beside me and shake it roughly.
The man on the floor snores softly but that's all the response I get from him.
I lay across the bed, draped off the edge, and stare at him, feeling disappointed. As my eyes adjust to the darkness on this side of the room, I do admit to taking full advantage of appreciating the view.
Ranger's other boot is laying near his head, the black shirt I'd unbuttoned during our all-too-brief make-out session has been discarded with a hasty toss toward the chair. The black jeans are inside-out, with the black boxer briefs still entwined with the long legs of the denim as they make a dark line across the floor beside the sleeping man.
What has me transfixed, however, is the sight of Ranger's body. All six foot, four of him stretched out and naked except for the one boot.
It's not the first naked man I've ever seen, but it's definitely the first one that's had me wanting to do more than look.
I can see where his tan ends, somewhere at the waist line of his jeans, leading me to imagine him working outdoors, shirtless in the summer sun. His body is all muscle and sinew, from the corded forearms to the thick thighs and sculpted calves.
Of course, the developed pecs and flat abs have my appreciation, and the trail of dark hair that leads down is hard not to admire, but it's the long, thick, ridge of flesh jutting up from between his legs that has my attention pinned to it.
He's still hard. Very hard.
And big enough to have my imagination doing loop-de-loops, wondering all kinds of things from will it fit to some primal urge to find out. Which, of course, I'm not going to do. It would be wrong to crawl off the edge of the bed and join him down there on the floor. It'd be wrong to run my hands over those hard muscles and along the length of that swollen cock while he's dead to the world.
Frustrated, I shake the booted foot again.
"Ranger!"
This time, his foot falls to the floor with a harsh thud.
A smile ghosts his features and he says my name-- but he doesn't wake up.
With the excitement the night had promised seeping out of my body, the whiskey is left to pull me into sleep.
Ranger
Sunlight assaults my senses, demanding that I wake up long before I feel rested.
When I finally will my eyelids to open, the damn curtains have been pulled wide open and the sun is practically in the room along with me.
My brain slowly creaks into operation as random bits of information slowly come together to make sense of things.
These windows face south, it's well past nine a.m. for so much sun to be hitting this side of the house.
I'm on the floor of Ma's guest bedroom. Half the bedding is off the mattress and wrapped around me. I'm stark raving naked under the flowered bed cover, except for one boot weighing down a foot that's trapped under the bed.
Serenity.
Stretching my arms out to my sides, I don't feel her near me.
Lifting my head, I have to shut my eyes for a minute. When the spinning stops, I look around. The room is pretty torn up. My clothes are strewn all over the floor around me, some of Seri's stuff lies tangled in with mine. The bed looks like it's seen more than sleep, with only one pillow left near the headboard, and all the covers pulled off the side where they're mostly covering me.
But no sign of Serenity.
My head's pounding, but I manage to pull myself onto my feet. Bracing myself against the side of the bed, I yank at my remaining boot until it comes free, then stumble toward the shower while I wrack my brain in hopes of remembering just what all happened last night.
A shit ton of whiskey is the last thing I remember clearly: Virgie making sure the table didn't go dry while we told lies and tall tales about my dad after we left the service.
Seri nestled up in my lap like a kitten while Bernie eyed her from across the table.
Bernie trying to call us out on not groping each other like horny teenagers whenever we're out together. Like Bernadine hasn't known me practically our whole lives.
That woman knows good and well I’ve never been the type that was all about public displays of affection. Hell! She used that to her advantage plenty there for a bit and everyone in town knew it was true enough to believe her lies.
The shower tile is cool where I rest my cheek against it while I let the steaming water beat some life back into me.
I'm too damn old to put away liquor that way anymore. Can't remember the last time I woke up feeling this wrung out.
Memories of Serenity's lips on mine flood my mind. Seri doesn't know me like Bernie does. She doesn't know I'm not the sort of man who's ever needed to paw at my woman in public just to mark her as mine.
She took Bernie's bait and made sure no one would be doing any more questioning about where things stood between us.
Problem is, it left me confused as all hell. Thinking maybe that sweet young thing could see me as more than a ticket to her dream job.
I'm just about woke up under the sting of the shower, putting together the rest of the night bit by bit, when I remember more. Seri scolding at me for dumping Lance's unconscious body on the lawn, her lips on mine, her hands on my body, hauling her down the hall with her over my shoulder while she swatted my ass.
Tusslin' with her here in the room, and ruining those pretty, black nylons she was wearing.
What I don't remember is where we left off, but judging from the state I woke up in, I'd say it's fair to assume the night went as far as nights can go between a red-blooded man and a beautiful woman.
Running my hand through my wet hair, I pound my fist against the shower wall and groan.
Try as I might, I can't remember anything past ripping through Seri's stockings. I don't know how I got one boot off or how either of us managed to pull my jeans and underwear off over the boot I woke up in.
More than that though, I can't remember the sweet taste of Seri coming on my tongue or the velvet clench of her pussy on my cock. Things I have been starving for since I first saw her in the airport back in Tacoma and definitely things I'd wanted to carry with me in my memories as long as I draw breath on this earth.
I didn't want Seri to be a drunken romp on the floor that I couldn't remember come morning. I want her to know she's mine, dammit. I want her to stay here on the ranch with me and be my wife and the mother of my children.
As I towel off and find some fresh clothes to throw on, I have no idea if I said any of those things to her last night and even less idea of what she might have said to me.
"Lookin' for a little hair of the dog?"
Gunner's voice comes from the back door as I sort through Mom's kitchen cabinets.
"Looking for what the hell happened to the fucking coffee mugs, jackass."
"Ma moved 'em over to the hutch in the dining room when she got one of them fancy coffee machine that takes those little cups...you'd have known that if you'd been back at all."
While I wait on the coffee maker to deliver a cup of steaming, hot, wakefulness, my brother takes advantage of the chance he's been waiting for.
"I suppose you'll be heading back to the big city in a day or two, now that you feel you've cleared your obligations to Dad?"
"Dammit, Gunner. You know I promised Dad I'd get involved in operations at the Delta O again."
"And you did! You've been phoning in the H.R. shit since the old man got too sick to handle the hiring and firing on his own. You seem to think you can do your part from two thousand miles away, so I expect that's how you'll keep doing it."
I'd like to say I'm too hung over for Gunner's shit right now, but it's not the pounding headache that's got my temper cut shorter than usual.
The house is empty, except for the man harassing me from the back door of the kitchen. I want Gunner to go back out on the ranch and stop picking fights with me about taking up my share of the ranching operations, and I want to know where Seri is.
"I'll be back in Slow River before the end of the quarter, Gunner." I grumble between gulps of black coffee as I check each of the rooms in the house for signs of Seri. "And I'd think you'd be happier with my hiring practices, seein' as how you shacked up with the last employee I hired."
"For the record, I'll be marrying her soon as we settle on the details. That don't mean we need you back here getting in the way of how we do things now days. Delta O's been runnin' just fine without you, we'll keep running just fine without you...what the hell are you lookin' for, Ranger?"
"Look, I'm sorry I left things the way I did, but you remember how it was. Bernie was acting crazy and Dad and I weren't seeing eye to eye. I had an offer in Houston and I took it.
"I'm not looking to take management back from you, Gunner, but I promised Dad I'd come back and I'm coming back."
I set the mug on the counter by the sink and shoulder past my brother.
Mom's SUV isn't parked in the driveway and she rarely pulls it into the garage-- unless that's something else she's changed since I've been gone.
"Where the hell is Seri?"
I turn back to Gunner, yelling a might louder than I mean to.
"That young thing you've been making a fool of yourself over since you landed back in the valley? What'd you do? Hire her back in the city to come out and play pretend with you so you wouldn't have to face Ma's match-making?"
I'm standing too close to Gunner when he starts trash-talking Serenity and he knows it as soon my fist connects with his face.
"Keep Seri's name out of your mouth unless you can do it with respect. Got me?"
"Whoa...uh..." Archer's shocked voice might be enough to keep Gunner and I from getting into a full-on brawl, but it's not enough to stop us fighting.
"Only because I like the girl, Ranger. Any respect I show her's got nothing to do with you. Nobody believes she's your girl except for Ma and you know you're going to break her heart when you finally fess up."
Our younger brother clears his throat, no doubt nervous that he's stumbled into a disagreement that might require him to choose sides.
"One word of that to a single soul and I'll do more'n just kick your ass, Gunner."
Lunging at him, I raise my fist to make my point.
Gunner scoffs and spits on the ground before turning on his heel and heading back out to the barns.
"You seen Seri?" I turn my frustration on Archer.
"Mom took her to town. Maybe an hour or so ago."
Damn. I wanted Mom to like Seri, not adopt her. Gunner could have a point about breaking Ma's heart once she finds out Seri won't be joining the family. Then again, if I have things my way, maybe Ma's gets her happy ever after, and my brother can eat crow.
"Dammit," I mutter under my breath as I dust off my hat and head out to the ranch.
"Hey, hold up," my younger brother hails me as he jogs to catch up. "Is that true? What Gunner was saying? About you and Seri not being for real?"
My steps falter.
Thing is, there's a difference in my mind between tellin' a tale and outright lying and I feel like Archer Dean's direct question puts my toes right up against that line.
"You know how Mom is with her trying to get me and Bern together, man." I stop, run my hand through my hair while I hold my hat in one hand. I put the hat back in place and sigh as I look Archer in the eye. "With Dad's service, and me making arrangements to move back here and all--" I look out toward the barns with a scowl. "I needed some way to keep her from pushing so hard to decide my life for me. Without hurting her feelings. You know?"
Archer considers what I've told him seriously and gives me a nod.
"Is it working?" He asks after a long pause stretches between us.
"I mean," Archer shuffles nervously. "You know how Mom gets, and with Dad gone, now-- I get that she's lonely and none of us have married up and she doesn't have grandkids to keep her busy but..."
My brother shoves his hands in his pockets and kicks at the dirt, then gives me a shrug and half a smirk.
"Ever since Gun and Clem got together, it's like Mom's on a mission to get the rest of us hitched too. And you know I can't be with Cal."
My eyebrows shoot up before I have the mind to keep my reaction under control.
"Mom's pushing Callie at you?" I ask, picking up my pace again. "Damn, man, and I thought I had it bad with her expecting me to settle down with Bernie."