Chapter Twelve
The sound of the truck engine and the rattle of the trailer came through the open barn door before anything else.
Naomi brought Vader to a walk and rode toward the rail, catching a glimpse through the arena window of the truck pulling over to the barn, dust rising behind the trailer.
The cool down got finished properly because that was a rule Ethan stood by, and because looking like she’d been watching the road since five o’clock this morning wasn’t something she wanted to advertise. Even though that was exactly what had been happening.
Vader got untacked, brushed down, and put up. She washed her hands at the barn sink.
Then Naomi walked over to the barn.
Ethan was at the back of the trailer, unhooking the hitch from the truck, then he straightened and started back to his truck.
He turned and saw her.
He looked tired and even though his scruff was three days thick, she thought he was the sexiest man she’d ever seen.
Two days on the road and a fight he hadn’t wanted and not enough sleep, all of it showing around his eyes.
But when he looked at her something in his expression settled that made her chest ache.
Naomi walked to him.
No words. Just her arms around him, holding on.
His arms came around her immediately, tight, his chin dropping to the top of her head.
“Hi,” she said into his chest.
“Hi.” Low and rough with tiredness.
They stood like that for a long moment.
“She’s going to be okay,” Naomi said.
“Yeah.” He tightened his arms. “She is. Sawyer will take care of her.”
Tilting her head back, Naomi looked up at him.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “For sending you away the other night.”
He shook his head. “You had every right.”
“Maybe. But I still missed you.” She held his gaze. “Don’t do it again.”
He looked at her for a second, then the corner of his mouth curved.
“Push you toward something you don’t want?”
“Go away for almost three days.”
He laughed, quiet and low, and the sound of it moved through her.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
“You look exhausted.”
“I am.” He ran a hand over his jaw. “I was too tired to shave or shower this morning. I’m going to head in now to do both.”
Naomi reached up and touched the stubble. “I think it’s sexy.”
He huffed out a laugh. “You wouldn’t if you had to shave it.” He took her hand. “Come with me.”
“Yes.”
He looked at her. “Good. Because you need a shower too.”
Naomi gasped. “I’ve been working. You’ve been on a road trip.”
“Not denying that.” He started walking, pulling her with him. “Still doesn’t change the facts.”
She laughed and let him lead her inside.
In the bathroom he turned the shower on and let it warm up, then helped her in. The water came down hot and the tension of two days apart and everything before it seemed to run right off both of them.
Naomi picked up the soap, worked it between her palms, and washed his chest slowly. Then she leaned up and kissed him.
His fingers raked into her hair, lifted her face, and looked at her, really looked at her, like he did sometimes that made her feel like the only person in the world.
“I love you, Naomi.” His voice was quiet and certain. “More than I’ve ever loved anyone.”
A tear escaped before she could stop it. He caught it with his thumb.
“No tears because of me,” he said. “I never want to make you cry.”
“I was so angry with you.”
“I know.” His hand cupped her face. “I can’t apologize enough for it. It wasn’t my place. I knew better but I did it anyway.” His eyes stayed on hers. “I never want to hurt you. Not ever.”
Naomi pressed her palm flat against his chest and felt his heart beating steadily beneath it.
“I know you didn’t mean to,” she said. “I know that.” She looked up at him. “I just needed you to understand what it cost me.”
“I do now.” His thumb moved along her cheek. “I should have understood it before I opened my mouth.”
She was quiet for a moment, the water coming down warm around them.
“I love you too,” she said. “I should have said it back the moment you said it.”
Something moved across his face, open and unguarded that she didn’t see often.
“You’re saying it now,” he said.
“I’m saying it now.” She held his gaze. “I love you, Ethan Harrison. Even when you make me furious.”
He laughed low as he pulled her against him. She wrapped her arms around him and held on and let the hot water run over them both.
“Don’t ever push me toward something like that again,” she said into his shoulder.
“Never,” he said. No hesitation.
“And don’t go to Billings for two days.”
“I make no promises about that one.”
She lightly punched him and he laughed, the sound of it filling the shower.
He cupped her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers, then slid his hands down her arms, her waist, and around to lift her. Her back met the wall, and she wrapped her legs around him without thinking.
“I’ve missed you,” he murmured against her ear. “I needed to get home to you.”
The words moved through her like heat.
“I needed you home,” she said.
He started to lower her. “I have to get a condom.”
She tightened her legs. “No. I’m on birth control.” She met his eyes. “I want to feel all of you.”
He went still. “You’re sure?”
“I’m positive.” She arched against him. “Please, Ethan.”
He took a slow breath, then eased into her, inch by inch, until there was nowhere left to go.
Then he moved. Long, deliberate strokes that made her grip his shoulders and forget her own name.
She tightened her legs around him, pulling him tighter to her, and he chuckled low against her ear.
“I never knew you were so impatient.”
“Ethan.” She growled it against his ear. “I swear you’ll pay for this.”
She took his earlobe between her teeth, he groaned and the teasing was over. He moved harder and faster until she was strung as tight as a bow, and then she snapped, crying out his name, her whole body shaking with it.
He groaned low and deep and she felt him throbbing inside her.
A tear rolled down her cheek. He raised his head, looked at her, and kissed it away.
“I will always want you in my life,” he whispered. “Always.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder and cried quietly while the water ran warm over them both.
This was what it felt like to come home to someone, and she hadn’t known she’d been looking for it until she found it.
Naomi woke in Ethan’s bed with his arm around her and the early light coming gray through the curtains and thought that she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this settled. This safe.
She lay there for a while listening to him breathe and didn’t move.
Eventually she slipped out from under his arm, dressed quietly, and went to start the coffee. She’d just poured the first cup when she heard a car in the yard.
She looked out the kitchen window.
Silver rental sedan. Her stomach dropped.
She set the cup down and went out the back door before Linda could knock and wake Ethan.
Linda was already out of the car, dressed like she was going somewhere, her jaw set that was different from the last two times. The apologetic softness was gone. This was something else. Naomi stepped onto the porch.
“We need to talk,” Linda said.
“We already talked.” Naomi pulled the door shut behind her and crossed her arms. “Twice.”
“You didn’t give me a chance to explain myself properly.”
“You explained yourself fine.” Naomi kept her voice low. “You wanted money that was never yours. We’re done.”
Linda’s eyes hardened. “That house belonged to my mother too.”
“Your mother left it to me. Not you. There’s a will that says so and a lawyer who drew it up.” Naomi looked at her steadily. “You don’t have a claim.”
“I have every right—”
The door opened behind Naomi.
Ethan stepped out, coffee in hand, wearing only his jeans, and took in the scene in one quiet look. He handed Naomi a cup of coffee.
Linda looked at him, then back at Naomi.
“I’d like to speak to my daughter alone,” she said.
“That’s up to her,” Ethan said simply. He didn’t move.
Naomi felt something steady move through her at his presence behind her.
“Say what you came to say,” Naomi said. “He stays.”
Linda’s expression shifted into something uglier. “You’ve known this man five minutes and you’re taking his side over your own mother’s?”
“You stopped being my mother when you drove away and didn’t look back.
” Naomi’s voice was quiet and even and she meant every word.
“I don’t owe you anything. Not money, not time, not a relationship.
” She held Linda’s gaze. “I’m sorry your plan didn’t work out.
But I think it’s time for you to go home. ”
Linda looked at her for a long moment, something working behind her eyes.
“You’ll regret this,” she said finally.
“I don’t think I will.”
Ethan stepped forward. His voice was quiet and unhurried and left no room for argument.
“Ma’am, I’m going to ask you to get off my property. Right now. And I’m going to ask you not to come back.” He held her gaze. “If you do come back, I’ll call the sheriff. Are we clear?”
Linda looked at him, then at Naomi, and whatever she saw in both of their faces told her everything she needed to know.
She got in the car without another word.
Neither of them moved until the sedan had disappeared down the driveway and the sound of the engine had faded completely down the road.
Naomi let out a long slow breath.
Ethan’s hand came to rest on her shoulder.
“You alright?” he asked quietly.
She looked out at the empty road for a moment, at the place where her mother had been and wasn’t anymore.
“Yeah.” She turned and looked up at him. “I really am.”
They stood there in the early morning quiet, and watched the sun come up over the mountains.
****
Ethan rested his chin on top of her head and looked out across the yard.
His men were lined up just outside the barn door. Rowdy, Kurt, Curly, Johnny, Serena. All of them watching, quiet and still.
He raised his cup at them and nodded once.
They nodded back, one by one. Serena gave a small wave. Then they turned and filed into the barn without a word, like it had never happened.