Chapter 40
Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Wilder
She was still asleep, curled into me like she always belonged there. My Brownie with the weight of her head on my chest, her auburn hair spilling across my skin like silk.
The morning light bled through the shutters, gold and quiet apart from her breath steady and soft and I didn't want to move.
Didn't want to break whatever spell had given me this moment, her curled against me like she belonged there, her breathing soft and even, one hand resting over my heart, her leg hooked over mine, and her sweet jasmine scent mixing with my cologne and the lingering smoke from last night’s fire.
Christ, she was beautiful. Stubborn but beautiful—she was still arguing she didn’t want a new phone.
Too beautiful for a man who’d sworn he only wanted sex and no strings and just fun.
But here we were. Even in sleep, there was something about her that made my lungs tight with feelings I was still figuring out.
Whatever this was between us, it was bigger than anything I'd ever felt. My fingers drifted to her hip, tracing the hem of her shirt, my shirt, which she’d pulled on sometime in the early hours when the fire died down and the cabin went cold. After we’d had sex.
Yet, it was no longer just sex was it. Since we’d started peeling back the layers and realizing we were more.
She shifted against me as her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks, and I knew she was waking up.
I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, breathing her in.
My heart damn near stopped when a sleepy little sound escaped her throat.
When she wiped drool from the corner of her mouth I was a goner, wondering how I’d ever thought I didn’t want this kind of sweet.
“Morning, Brownie,” I murmured against her hair, my voice rough, barely more than a gravelly rasp.
“Mmm,” she made a soft humming sound, “too early.” Stretching like a cat before tilting her face up to look at me. Her green eyes were sleepy and warm, and when she smiled, it was like watching the sun rise.
“Yeah, it’s too early to get up.” I brushed my lips across her temple.
“How long have you been awake?” she asked, her voice husky with sleep as her fingertips whispered against my skin and rested over my heart.
“Long enough to count every freckle on your nose.” I traced my finger along the bridge of it, watching her eyes flutter closed at the gentle touch. “Did you know you have exactly seventeen?”
She laughed, the sound vibrating through my chest. “You did not count my freckles.”
“Yep. Fifteen on your nose, two on your left cheek.” I kissed each spot as I named it. “I've memorized every inch of you, baby. In fact, there’s also twenty-one on your shoulders and three above that incredible ass of yours.
Her cheeks flushed pink, and she buried her face against my neck. “You're ridiculous.”
“I'm completely gone for you.” The admission came out rougher than I intended. “Never felt anything like this before, Brownie.”
She lifted her head, her eyes bright with emotion and I wanted to bottle the moment and keep it somewhere safe.
Her hands slid up my chest and I rolled, gently pressing her into the sheets, her beneath me, real and warm and mine as she whispered, “Me neither. It's terrifying and perfect at the same time.”
I cupped her face in my hands, thumbs stroking her cheekbones. “You're everything I never knew I needed.”
When I kissed her, it was soft and reverent. She melted against me, her breath hitching with just the hush of the morning and the rustle of sheets.
“I could stay here forever,” I said, nuzzling her neck. Taking my time to touch every inch with my lips because there was no rush.
“What about the horses? The ranch? Your brothers will send a search party.”
“Let them.” I pulled back to look at her, brushing hair from her face. “Right now, nothing else matters but you.”
And it didn’t. She had become the beginning, the middle and the end of every single one of my days.
I’d spent most of the morning with Tally, working alongside her as she worked with the horse called Maverick.
Watching her take control, how damn talented she was made my chest puff up with pride.
Pride and something much more, much fuller, much deeper.
Then Ray radioed me to say there was an issue with a cow that had fallen as it was being brought down from the high ground.
It couldn’t get up and he suspected it’d broken his leg.
He wanted me to go out there and decide whether it should be euthanized there and then or whether I thought it was treatable.
Rushing over there I put in a call to Rosie, our vet, who thankfully was close by and thankfully thought it would be okay with a splint and a few days immobilized.
The only person around to stay with Tally was Poppy and at around five three in height and probably less than a hundred and ten pounds, I didn’t think much of her chances in protecting either of them. Then again Declan wasn’t much bigger than her, so maybe she could.
That was why, when I rounded the corner to the stables and I saw the back of him walking toward the paddock where Tally was working alone, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The blood turned to ice in my veins as my legs started to pump.
I couldn’t yell her name, or his, because I couldn’t take the chance of spooking the horse she was working with. I had run track at high school, though, so that fucker was mine. As he was a couple feet from the paddock I grabbed his jacket and pulled him around.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing on my property?”
He reared back putting an arm out, like that would stop me. “What the hell.”
“I told you not to come back here. And you should not be walking toward her.” I pointed in the direction of Tally, my gaze pinned to him.
“Wilder?”
Over Declan’s shoulder I saw her walking toward the fence, a determined stride and steam practically coming from her ears.
“Brownie, it’s fine. I’ve got this.”
“I need to speak to my wife,” Declan protested, finally getting free of my grip. “You put your hands on me again and I’ll have you arrested.”
“You’ll have him arrested,” Tally exclaimed. “I’ll have you arrested for sending me abusive messages.”
“What?” he scoffed. “I haven’t sent you any messages.”
“You lying piece of shit.” My hands fisted at my sides as the anger coursed through me like a summer brush fire.
It spread to every nerve ending, every tip, every inch of skin.
The need to get him away from her made me itch.
It felt as important as breathing. “Get in your stupid toy car and get the hell away from here and don’t come back.
You forget her name, what she looks like and her damn number.
” I pointed my finger right in his face, almost touching his nose that was twitching.
“You sign the damn divorce papers and send them to your lawyer and then wipe your marriage to her from your memory.”
“I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about,” he protested, looking from me to Tally.
“Don’t look at her, dipshit. Keep your eyes on me.”
His cologne, too sweet, too artificial, too expensive, hung in the air smelling like poison as he dared to look her up and down. I took a step, fist clenched when Tally grabbed my elbow. Even in the middle of my rage, her touch anchored me, her fingers warm and steady against my skin.
“Wilder, it’s fine. I can deal with him.”
“Nuh uh.” I shook my head. “You don’t have to. I’m here to help take the load, to be there for you whenever you need me, to support you.” I took a deep breath. “If that means throwing this piece of shit off my land then that’s what I’ll do.”
Her eyes never left me as she climbed over the fence and as she moved alongside Declan, I thought that my heart was going to stop. The fear of her being so close to danger made my head feel like it was about to explode.
“Declan you need to leave.” Tally’s voice was calm and measured as she took my hand but looked at him.
“You need to stop messaging me otherwise I will have you arrested. I mean it. Do as Wilder says and sign the divorce papers and just forget we were ever together. As for Dream Maker, that isn’t happening. ”
“I think that’s one thing that definitely is,” he replied, adding a scoff of laughter that made me clench my jaw so tight I thought my teeth might break.
“No, it’s not.” Inhaling slowly, her shoulders went back. “Gunner has spoken to Bernard, and he’s agreed to sign over the ownership papers.”
“That’s not what he told me.” He turned to me. “Was this your idea, to pretend that you have him on board.”
“That’s what’s happening. You should call him.”
He physically deflated in front of me. He knew I was telling the truth and that he had nowhere to go. Other than the fuck out of our lives.
“I’ll go but you want a divorce then you’re going to have to wait.” He smirked at me. “Let’s see if he sticks around because I promise you it’ll never work.”
As Tally took a step back, I curled my fingers tighter around hers. She needed to know I was there, but that I knew she could handle it.
Declan Mullaney would never hurt her. Never go near her. Never be in her air space again, even if I died making sure.
As he walked away, I felt the relief seep through both of us.
Maybe we’d won that battle but I was sure the war was far from over.
When Tally’s phone pinged with a message just minutes after Declan’s car sped down our driveway, the smell of the exhaust still lingering in the clear mountain air, I knew I was ready for it.
Unknown number
You’ll get what you deserve. Fucking nothing. You bitch