CHAPTER FOUR
Dalton
The ranch hands didn’t let me live it down at dinner. I wasn’t surprised since I’d never brought a woman to the ranch. My ex had maybe visited once or twice, but hadn’t even spent the night, insisting on a room at the lodge with room service.
I should have realized a lot sooner than I had that she wasn’t the woman for me.
“So, boss,” Jake said, loading his plate with Riley’s pot roast—which was actually edible tonight, thank fuck. “You planning on making kitchen inspections a regular thing? Because Tyler said the, uh, inspection this morning looked pretty thorough.”
Laughter erupted around the table.
I looked over my shoulder, thankful that Riley was up putting more biscuits in a basket and couldn’t hear the remarks.
“Shut the fuck up and eat your food,” I growled at all of them, a warning light in my eyes.
“Yes, sir.” Jake grinned. “Just saying, if you need someone to test the, uh, countertop stability—”
“Jake.” My voice dropped to that tone that usually made grown men reconsider their life choices.
He held up his hands in surrender, but the bastard was still grinning.
Tyler, the little shit who’d walked in on us, was trying hard not to laugh. “For what it’s worth, boss, I think it’s great. Riley’s been good for you. I haven’t seen you smile this much in—”
“How about everyone shuts up and appreciates the fact that dinner isn’t charcoal?” I interrupted.
“Amen to that,” Daniel said, the oldest of my hands at fifty-two. When Riley sat back down, he winked at her. “You’re doing real good, sweetheart. Mae would be proud.”
Riley’s smile was shy but genuine, and something in my chest tightened at the sight of it.
After dinner, the boys headed to the bunkhouse for their usual poker game. I gathered up the rest of the dishes and followed Riley into the kitchen. She immediately started running hot water in the sink. The dishwasher was already going, but there were more dishes than could fit in a single load.
I watched her for a moment from the doorway. She’d pulled her hair up into one of those messy knots that made me want to tug it loose and watch it fall around her shoulders. The oversized sweater she wore kept sliding off one shoulder, revealing smooth skin that I wanted to taste.
My cock stirred, still half-hard from thinking about this morning. About the way she’d wrapped her leg around my waist, the little sounds she’d made when I’d kissed her, how fucking perfect she’d felt pressed against me.
It had been just days since she’d arrived, and I was already planning how to convince her to stay forever.
I was so fucking screwed.
“Need help?” I asked, stepping into the kitchen and placing the dishes on the counter
She gave me a small smile over her shoulder. “I think I have the dishwashing part down. I did do a stint in a restaurant one summer.”
“But didn’t learn to cook?” I picked up a towel and started drying the dishes as she washed. It was a companionable silence. From the window over the sink, I watched the snow continue to fall. The soft glow of the Christmas lights only added to the beauty.
I’d been neutral about Christmas my entire life. I could take it or leave it—the holiday fuss. But this year. This year was turning out to be something very special.
Riley gave a little laugh. “No. I guess no one was brave enough to teach me the difference between baking powder and baking soda.”
I nudged her with my shoulder. “You catch on fast.” I paused for just a second. “When you aren’t distracted.”
That brought that blush to her face, and she mumbled something I couldn’t hear. “What was that?”
She finished the last of the dishes and rinsed and dried her hands. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”
I finished drying the plate and laid down my towel. “Oh, I think I need to know. After all, we don’t want another fire.”
She turned toward me. “There was no fire. Just smoke.”
I closed the distance between us. “Oh, baby, where there’s smoke, there’s always fire.”
And, unable to resist any longer, I pulled her into my arms and kissed her.
It wasn’t the passionate, take-no-prisoners kiss of this morning. It was more lazy, more exploring. I cupped her jaw, my tongue slipping inside her mouth to give me another taste. I inhaled the scent of whatever fruity shampoo she used that had been driving me crazy all day.
My other hand splayed across her lower back, pushing her into me, letting her know how much I wanted her.
“There’s something I need to ask you,” I whispered. I trailed kisses along her jaw until my mouth was by her ear.
“Yes. My answer is yes, Dalton.” Her hands tangled in my hair, trying to pull my mouth back to hers.
“So, you want to help me decorate the Christmas tree that’s defrosting in the mudroom?”
She jerked back. “What?”
“The Christmas tree. You want to help decorate it.”
She laughed, a sound as sweet as the Christmas carols I’d heard her humming throughout the day.
She slapped me playfully on the chest. “You are a bad, bad man, Dalton Hart.”
“That’s what they tell me.” I kissed her once more, hard and quick, before taking her hand and pulling her with me out of the kitchen and into the mudroom.
The tree was a beast—eight feet of Douglas fir that I’d cut from the back forty right after Riley had arrived.
“Wow, that’s huge,” Riley said, eyeing it dubiously.
“That’s what she said.” The words were out before I could stop them.
She burst out laughing, that full-bodied sound that made my chest warm. “Did you really just—”
“Couldn’t help myself.” I grabbed the trunk. “Come on, grab the other side. And try not to get impaled by pine needles.”
“No promises.”
Getting the tree into the living room was an exercise in comedy and chaos. Riley nearly dropped her end twice, got smacked in the face with branches, and at one point I was pretty sure we were both going to end up crushed under eight feet of pine.
But her laughter filled the house, bright and genuine, and I realized how quiet this place had been before she arrived. How lonely.
“To the left!” she called out. “No, your other left!”
“I know my fucking lefts, woman.”
“Could’ve fooled me. You almost took out that lamp.”
We finally got it into the stand, both of us breathing hard and covered in pine needles.
“That,” Riley announced, dusting off her hands, “was an adventure.”
“An adventure. That’s one word for it.” I brushed a few needles off her shoulder, letting my hand linger longer than necessary. “You’ve got some in your hair.”
“I do?” Before she could do anything, I raised my hands and undid her messy bun, letting her hair fall down around her shoulders.
“I love your hair.” I ran my fingers through the long strands, smiling as she moaned slightly. And just like that, the playful energy in the room shifted into something heavier. Hotter.
I should’ve stepped back. I should have let the evening play out as it was intended, playful and fun.
But I couldn’t not with her standing so close, smelling so good.
My hands cupped her face and her tongue darted out to wet her lips—a nervous gesture I was starting to recognize—and my control cracked just a little more.
“Fuck it,” I muttered, and kissed her for the second time that night.
She made this small sound of surprise that turned into a moan as I deepened the kiss, my tongue sliding against hers. Her hands fisted in my shirt, pulling me closer, and I wrapped an arm around her waist, hauling her against me.
She felt so fucking good. Soft curves pressed against my hard body, fitting perfectly like she’d been made for me.
I walked her backward until her back hit the wall beside the tree, never breaking the kiss. My hand slid down to cup her ass, hard, squeezing the soft flesh, and she gasped into my mouth.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since the first fucking day,” I growled against her lips.
“What else have you been wanting to do?”
“Everything.”
I kissed down her neck, finding that spot where her pulse fluttered wildly. She tilted her head back, giving me access, and I sucked hard enough to leave a mark. That’s what I wanted to do. Mark her. Make sure anyone that looked at her knew she belonged to me.
“Dalton.” My name was a breathless plea.
“Tell me what you want, Riley.”
“You. I want you.”
Those four words nearly brought me to my knees.
I lifted my head, looking at her. Her lips were swollen from my kisses, her eyes dark with want, and she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
“We should—” I started.
“Decorate the tree?” She bit her lip, looking almost shy. “We can do that. And then maybe...”
“Maybe?”
“Maybe you can show me what else you’ve been thinking about.”
My cock was so fucking hard it hurt, pressing against my jeans, demanding relief. But I wanted to do this right. I wanted to take my time with her, not just fuck her against the wall like some animal.
Even though part of me really wanted to do exactly that.
“Let’s decorate the tree. Then we’ll see about the rest.”
I pulled out the boxes of ornaments from the storage closet, setting them on the coffee table. Riley knelt beside them, carefully lifting the lid off the first box.
“Oh,” she breathed, holding up a delicate glass ornament shaped like a snowflake. “These are beautiful.”
“Those are my grandmother’s. Some of them are older than I am.” I pulled out a wooden carved deer, running my thumb over the smooth surface. “My grandfather made this one. He used to carve during the long winters when there wasn’t much else to do.”
“Really? If he was anything like you, I don’t see him sitting still long enough.” She looked up at me, something soft in her expression. “You must miss them.”
“Every day.” I’d never told anyone that. Not even my ex, who’d thought sentiment was weakness. “They left me this place. Left me a legacy. Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing right by them.”
“You are.” She said it with such certainty, such conviction, that I almost believed her. “They’d be proud of you, Dalton. I can tell you love this ranch. Love this life.”