Chapter 7 #2
He spins me around and crushes his mouth against mine. We line up perfectly. My body’s still thrumming from my orgasm, but his kiss is so staggeringly sweet I moan into him.
Eventually, he pulls away. “We can’t keep doing this.”
“I know.” I dance my fingers over his collar. He’s crowding me against the bench, and I like it. “I’m looking for my own place.”
Surprise lights his eyes. “Bill’s letting you move out?” He winces. “I don’t call him Bill to his face.”
I laugh. “You’d only do it once. Bill fits him a lot more than William, but he’s all about status. As for your question, he doesn’t have a choice.” He only thinks he does.
Iverson feathers his fingers down my cheeks. The musky smell of sex lingers around us. “What’s wrong?”
I must’ve been frowning. I hate to tell him about Daddy’s plans, but talking to Iverson is way too easy.
“He actually had it all planned out. He’s saved money for me and my sisters, and he and Mom have decided where we’d live on the property.
I think they even planned the houses they’d build for us.
” I squeeze my eyes shut. “Believe me. I know how insufferable that sounds. My parents want to build me a house. Poor me.”
“It’s controlling.”
Thrilled that someone understands, I nod. “Right? He cares about us, but I’m trying to set limits.” I rest my cheek against his hard chest. “Too bad there’s nothing in town that I want to buy.”
“Something will come along.” He rubs my back. “We should get going.”
“Yeah.”
We continue holding each other.
Glad he didn’t want to leave, I chance finding out more about him. “How long have you worked for the ranch?”
His exhale is long. “Five years. Before that, we dinged around Wyoming. My mom lived in Casper, and I stuck around until my brothers graduated. Mostly to make sure they graduated.”
I tip my head back. “Wild childhood?”
“Neglected.” The corner of his mouth pulses.
“Oh, god. I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault. My dad’s from here, actually.” He rolls a shoulder. “I am too. But we had to live with Mom.”
A few pieces click into place. “Hennessy. Like the Old Hennessy Mine?”
He nods. No wonder he knew the lot we were in that night didn’t have security cameras.
“Yeah, that’s still ours. Dad made sure he locked it in our names.
He did a lot of outdoorsy stuff and knew that shit happened.
Only he had no one to ensure we went to if something happened to him.
So we ended up with Mom when he was found dead. ”
“I’m sorry.” I remember the story of a man going missing and his three kids being found living on their own. I only got snippets over the years, never any details, but I always wondered what happened to those kids. “I heard about you. Do you think we ever met as kids?”
“Honey, I’m a little older than you.”
The way he says it sends shivers down my spine. His age is a turn-on. I’m sick of college guys with no life experience and the arrogant man-childs I seem to find who are my age. “Thirteen years is not that much.”
“It is.”
“You act like you’re robbing the cradle. I’ve been to six years of college. Seven, really. I’ve worked part-time since I was faux cut-off and couldn’t take huge credit loads.”
His gaze strokes over my face. “I find your brain as sexy as the rest of you.”
I’ll take his compliment, but I hear the self-deprecation behind it. “You didn’t go to college?”
“I didn’t finish.”
There it is again. The tinge of shame in his words. I hitch myself up onto the bench. My knees are on either side of him. “Circumstances, Iverson. That’s the only difference between us.” I drape my arms around his neck.
“I know William can be controlling, but he loves you, and your mom’s not bat-shit crazy from what I hear. That’s got to account for something.”
“I love my mom. She’s amazing, but I don’t know.” I run my teeth over my bottom lip. “She defers to Daddy so much, and I never liked that. I don’t want a relationship like hers.”
His eyes twinkle. “Something tells me that you won’t put up with a relationship like that. You’re taking a wait-and-see approach with the job.”
I push my hands through his thick hair. “The first rule of any negotiation is that you should always be able to walk away. I’m trying not to get attached to being home so I don’t convince myself to be meek and obedient.
” I’m doing a horrible job, getting attached to a handsome cowboy with firm roots in the area.
“What would happen if you left?”
“I’d probably get cut off for real.” I smile. “Good thing I have those shiny degrees I didn’t have to pay for.”
His chuckle is deep and pleasing. “You’re always going to land on your feet, sunny day, but you don’t have to leave to start over. I bet you could open up shop and get three customers right off the bat.”
My heart cracks wide open. He’s got so much confidence in me, and he’s probably not joking about helping me, and he hardly knows me. I kiss him. “I could make sure those three customers know that they still have to do anything.”
He grinds against me. “One of those customers wants to do you again.”
Heat tingles over my skin, but we already risked taking too much time. Everyone’s at dinner. I told Chef I’d be at my parents’ house because I’d be out riding today. Iverson might be missed. “When can we do this again?” I hold my breath. Has he come to his senses? Is he going to tell me we can’t?
“Where we went that first night.”
The old mine. His land. It’s been empty for years, and the area around isn’t good for farming or ranching. He’s too far southwest of town, and the terrain becomes too rugged. “What a beautiful piece of property to own.”
“I go out there sometimes. Haven and Durban too. We hunt and fish.” He drops his gaze. “Sometimes we just hang out.”
“I bet there’s been some good times there.” I drag my hands through his hair again. He’s opened up a lot, and I want more, more, more.
“Great times,” he says quietly, his lips close to mine.
“We talk about them. Try to hang onto every scrap of memory, and we do the skills he taught us. Makes us feel closer to him.” Just when I want to wrap him in a giant bear hug, he places a kiss on my lips.
A light signal that the heavy conversation is over.
“But when you and I are there—I have plans.”
“I already know how to fly fish.”
He laughs and helps me down. “We’ll have fun coming up with something new.”
We make sure our clothing is straight. Time to leave our little sanctuary.
“I’ll go out first,” I say.
He yanks me to him for one more toe-curling kiss. “Saturday night. Eight?”
That’ll give us hours and hours. “See you then.”
Before I turn the doorknob, he says, “Hey, Sunny?”
“Yeah?”
“Wear a sundress.”
I grin and yank open the door. At the opening on the far end of the barn, Daddy looks up. “There you are.”
My heart stops. Shit . I could get Iverson fired just by being caught alone with him. I hit the light switch so he’ll think I’m alone. The tack room goes dark.
“Daddy.” I plaster a broad smile on my face and walk toward him. I don’t pull the door shut behind me. It’s usually kept open, and I can’t be suspicious. “Have you eaten yet?”
“Chef said you were eating at home, but your mom said you weren’t there. Thought I might catch you. Let’s go look at the ten acres by the river, and I’ll tell you what I’m thinking.”
My hopes that he’ll stay out of my business sink. “I’m working on it, Daddy.”
He holds up both hands. “Just look with me. Hear me out.”
If it’d get him off the ranch so he doesn’t see Iverson sneak out of the tack room, I’ll have to. “Sure. But don’t get your heart set on me building on Hawthorne land. I’d like a place of my own.”
“It would be your own.”
No, Daddy. It wouldn’t . Just like the man hiding from him isn’t mine.
I’ll keep working on both. Daddy’s going to have to butt out, or else I’ll move. And the connection I have with Iverson Hennessy is special, and I think we can have something real.
I’m falling hard for him. As long as he’s willing to sneak around, I’m willing to hope we’ll find a way to make things work for us.