3. - – Dean
CHAPTER THREE
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DEAN
I needed to stop checking the time for my sanity—I was early.
I’d wrapped up with Goldie, the mare that was giving the Jamesons behavioral issues.
She’d started kicking, and her stubbornness made her unsafe for ranching duties.
Jett brought her to me last week, and thanks to my offer last night, I was unfocused. I’d been wasting my time and Goldie’s.
I sat in Cardinal Coffeehouse with a cup of black coffee, okay my second cup, waiting to see if the woman I never stopped loving would show.
Her friends were right—we hated each other, but no one knew why.
Eight years ago, when Joanna, Jules’ mama, died, we crossed the line we’d been dancing around for a year.
Growing up, Jules was my best friend’s kid sister… A girl trying to fit in while surrounded by boys and ranchers. My two sisters were much younger.
Jules was off-limits because Jett said so, and I’d never been tempted. Ignoring her was easy because she was three years behind me in school. That changed the summer after my junior year of college. I came home and went to the Ardis Ranch’s Summer Festival.
Jules’ birthday is during the summer, and that year, she’d turned eighteen. The festival morphed into a birthday, high school graduation, and acceptance to Stanford University celebration. The Lockwoods and Jamesons were close. My family never missed the Ardis festival.
I meant to simply congratulate Jules. It shouldn’t’ve been any different than interacting with my sisters, Olivia and Maisie, but when my eyes landed on her, she stopped being Jett’s little tagalong sister and left me speechless.
I’d gone away to college, and Jules turned into a woman, a drop-dead gorgeous, stop-you-in-your-tracks woman.
That night, whenever she was around, nothing good came out of my mouth because she was abso-fucking-lutely not giving me sisterly vibes. It was pure torture.
Jett busted me gawking, then threatened me. “I’ll remove your eyeballs with a spoon if you don’t burn the image of my sister out of your fucking brain.” The edict was issued… Jules was forbidden fruit. My mind got the memo, but my heart and cock didn’t seem to give a shit.
At the end of the summer, Joanna asked me to watch over Jules.
Before I could refuse, her number was saved in my phone.
When I remembered to protest because of Jett, and…
lack of self-trust, Jack and Joanna resorted to pleading.
It hit me, they were asking me because Jules would be less than thirty minutes away with me at Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business.
I’d eventually take over Lockwood Stables.
Having a business analytics degree would help. I caved to the Jamesons.
Over the next year, Jules and I texted, talked, and grabbed dinner. She was a slice of home in California. We grew close, but I never violated Jett’s order, not physically. However, at some point, I fell head-over-heels in love with Julia Aster Jameson.
At the end of my senior year, I’d reached my breaking point when the call came in; Joanna suddenly passed away from an aneurysm. One minute she was alive and well, the next, she was gone. I dropped everything to accompany Jules home for the funeral.
The bells on the front door at Cardinal chimed, snapping me out of the past. I glanced up from the cold black liquid in my cup to find cornflower doe eyes, full light coral lips, sun-kissed skin, and caramel wavy locks.
I swallowed and continued studying her face.
Her high cheekbones were elegant… Reminiscent of a pin-up model.
Jules’ beauty was timeless. I was so fucked.
Watching her walk toward me instead of away stirred a plethora of emotions that were all tangled up, resulting in momentary discombobulation.
She sat gracefully and greeted me with a flat, “I’m here.”
Her sass swept away every ounce of emotional confusion. It wasn’t what I wanted from her, but I’d take her ire over indifference.
I smirked. “I see that.”
“Don’t be an ass.”
The word ‘ass’ from her lips melted over my skin like warm honey. Years of yearning for Jules may’ve turned me into a masochist.
“It’s good to see you too.”
“Liar. Tell me why you offered to do this after everything?”
Our time apart had changed her—left her guarded.
“My reasons are my own.”
“Dean—”
“That’s the only stipulation for my help—no questions. I’ve got reasons, and you don’t need to know them.”
If a glare could burn a man to ash, I’d be dead, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d fess up.
Jules ghosted me after our night by the river—the night that changed my world and left me destitute.
It was the best and worst night of my life.
I discovered what it meant to have and lose her in a single moment.
I was offering my tattered heart on a platter in exchange for spending time with my true obsession.
Under it all, I held a sliver of hope Jules would fall back in love with me over the next two months.
They say there’s a thin line between love and hate—for me, when Jules blocked me from her life and rejected my love—hate kept me sane. That’s my line between the two all-consuming emotions. The unrequited love would’ve ended in madness, so hatred was the only option left.
“I don’t trust you.”
“That’s rich coming from you, Princess.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why? I’ve always called you that.”
“We’re different, Dean.”
“You’re different. I just got older. For the most part, I’m the same person.”
“Yeah, and who’s that?”
“A loyal and protective man. Once upon a time we mattered to each other. Then without a word, you cut me out.”
She bit her lip and glanced down. “I had my reasons.”
“What did I do wrong?”
Her head snapped up. “Dean?—”
“Just tell me.”
“This is a bad idea. I’ll figure something else out.” Jules scooted her chair back.
“I’ll drop it, and we can proceed if you’ll answer one question.”
She paused. “Ask it, then I’ll decide.”
“Was it something I did?”
Her silence iced the room. Tears popped up in her lower eyelids.
Jules didn’t cry. This woman had been thrown from a horse, fallen from trees, took and gave punches.
The one and only time she had was that night by the river—our night.
I opened my mouth to utter forget it… I’d pushed too hard, too fast when she answered, “It wasn’t you. And no, I won’t elaborate.”
“Fair enough.”
Jules exhaled. Her tears vanished. The sounds of the coffeehouse returned. Hushed conversations flooded my ears. I needed to lighten things.
“You know Jett threatened to scoop out my eyeballs for looking at you.”
“What?”
Fuck, her eyes were stunning. I could see my universe within them.
“When?”
“The summer of your birthday-graduation-college acceptance party.” The shock on her face was delicious. “Yes, Princess, I noticed you that night. I’d been gone for a while, and you grew into a beautiful woman in my absence.”
“Well, that’s a matter of opinion.”
“Fact, Princess.”
Jules started biting her thumbnail, a nervous habit. “If you say so… Jett is going to be our biggest problem.”
“Nope… Our largest obstacle is being convincing.”
“Maybe… That cunning gleam in your eyes says you’ve got a solution.”
“I do.”
“And what’s that?”
“Easy, this is a date. Drop the hostility, move closer, and act like a woman who can’t resist me. We need to start the gossip train. It’ll make Inverness think we’ve been dating in secret for months.”
“Do you want to die today?” She chuckled.
I’d give anything to hear that sound every day.
“Not particularly, and that wasn’t a no. Come here.”
“Talk to Jett first. He needs to hear it from you that we’re dating.”
“My next stop. I’ll be faster than the gossip.”
“Doubtful.”
To my shock, Jules stood and pulled her chair next to mine.
Our eyes stayed locked as she moved. Jules sat back down, then lifted a long, exposed leg and draped it over my thigh.
She wore tiny shorts and ankle boots. My jeans were the only barrier between her bare flesh and mine.
I grabbed her and dragged her closer, making the chair screech loudly, but a scene was what we wanted.
Her warm and soft skin had me aching to kiss and bite it.
Seizing her ponytail, I brought her to me until my lips hovered over hers, then whispered, “Kiss me.”
“I can’t,” she murmured, but her eyes told another story.
“We need to sell this. Show them you yearn for me.”
“I hate you,” she seethed, but leaned closer. Her lips brushed mine. My cock stiffened.
Masochist indeed. “Even better—kiss me with that rage, Princess.”
Jules knocked my ball cap off, tugged my hair, then crashed her lips to mine.
She tasted reckless, but that didn’t stop the world from melting away because I was home—her body and soul were my fucking home.
When she whimpered into the kiss, I pulled her into my arms and took complete possession of her mouth, darting my tongue in to claim her heat.
The forward notes of the kiss tasted of salvation, but too soon it ended, leaving behind the aftertaste of my utter ruin.
I dropped my forehead to hers. “You wound me with so little faith. I’ve got you.”
“I don’t have faith in anyone, they don’t deserve it,” she whisper-shouted.
What the actual fuck? What happened to her? She tried to pull back, but I hugged her to me.
“I’ll prove you wrong over the next two months—promise.”
“It doesn’t matter, Dean. What’s next?”
I shouldn’t do this to myself again, but I was a glutton for her. I placed a soft kiss to her cheek, making my way to her ear. My words needed to be for her alone, and the entire coffeehouse was watching.
“A public date, dinner tomorrow. However, right now I need to find Jett and tell him we’ve been dating privately for what… six months, long enough?”
She nodded.
“How about we say due to our families being close, we wanted to make sure it was real before we involved them and the town. Sound good?”
Jules pulled back a bit, looked at me, and spoke low. “That’s actually perfect. How’d you come up with that so fast?”
“I’m a business strategist, Princess. It makes me quick.” I was a strategist, but it was a lie. For years, I’d dreamt of being with Jules and how to handle her family. Mine already loved her, but not as much as I did.