Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
“Call her.”
“Who?” Michael looked up from his office computer screen to see Jeb standing in the doorway.
“Don’t be a fucking idiot. You know who I’m talking about.”
At his foreman’s harsh statement, Michael winced. He did know because Jeb mentioned it at least once a day. “I’m busy.”
“No, you’re not.” From a lifetime of familiarity, Jeb entered and dropped into a chair on the other side of the desk Michael’s father and grandfather had sat behind.
“I don’t recall issuing an invitation.”
“I knocked,” Jeb offered by way of an explanation.
“Told you I’m busy.” Michael scowled. “Working on accounting.”
“Pretending to work,” Jeb countered, taking off his hat and tossing it onto the desk. “Just like you have been every day since Sydney left.”
Recognizing the resolve buried in the lines between Jeb’s eyebrows, Michael exhaled and leaned back in his seat.
They’d been through too damn much together for Michael to get away with anything. When his dad had died, Jeb had been constantly in sight, from dawn to well-past dusk. They’d spent hours on the range, even more in the office as Jeb had gone over the books and given detailed explanations of the ranch operations.
Though his father had done his best to prepare Michael to take over, both of them had believed they’d have many more years together, so urgency had been lacking.
Without Jeb’s steadying hand and personality, Michael would have been more lost than he was.
And then came the debacle with Jane, and he’d barely scraped together enough funds to ensure she went away, leaving the ranch intact.
The ending of that relationship had been filled with emotional drama, and for a time, as he’d struggled to get through it, Jeb had handled all the regular details that ensured a prosperous future.
The man had more than earned the right to say whatever he wanted. Even if Michael didn’t want to hear it. Especially if he didn’t want to hear it.
“Want a glass of whiskey?” Jeb asked, standing.
“No.” Last night, he’d consumed far too much. And the night before, as well.
Jeb narrowed his eyes. “Have you finished every drop in the house?”
Dismissively, Michael waved his hand. “No.” But it was close. Closer than it should be.
The damn truth was, he’d spent the last twelve nights morosely watching the sun go down, glass in hand.
“Don’t mind if I do.” Jeb crossed to a small cabinet and pulled out the decanter. Without saying a word, he made a show of holding the contents up to the light and noting the small amount of liquor inside.
After pouring two fingers’ worth into a crystal glass, Jeb returned to his seat. Then, rather than taking a sip, he held the beverage and regarded Michael.
“You’re wasting your time, Jeb.”
“An apology is always a good place to start.”
For what? Confronting the truth that neither of them had wanted to accept? “No chance in hell I’m calling her. I’m the last person she wants to hear from.”
For long moments, the office rang with a silence so loud that his ears burned.
A few seconds later, Jeb quietly spoke, and the impact rocked Michael back in his boots. “Are you in love with her?”
“Hell no.” Michael slammed his hand down. “Never doing that again.”
Contemplatively, Jeb took a drink.
Wouldn’t matter, either way. Sydney had no interest in anything other than an occasional scene or fucking.
Michael needed to shove aside thoughts of her.
After all, he was no longer a man given to bouts of obsession. Instead, he accepted reality and got on with his responsibilities.
Ranching could be brutal. A lot of winters, he lost cattle to the weather. And spring birthing came with its own risks.
He’d grieved for both of his parents, and acknowledged the fact that his sister and her children didn’t want anything to do with the land he loved. And he’d survived it all. He’d get past his bruised ego soon enough. “Better I find out now that she’s not interested in being up here.”
“Hmm.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Michael snapped, annoyed.
“I’ve watched her. Smiling as she galloped on horseback, laughing as you rode the UTV together.”
Before Michael could respond, Jeb continued, “Watching the sunrise with a cup of coffee. Making smores over an open fire. Taking care of Melanie’s flowerbeds.” He lifted a shoulder. “She helped me give the pest a bath.”
“She didn’t.”
“Yeah. And brought in eggs for you a couple of times.”
Why the hell hadn’t he known about some of those things?
“There were times you were unavailable, and she was at loose ends. She wandered around, asked questions, made herself useful. She wasn’t on her phone or bitching about how quiet it is out here.”
Unlike Jane. “Don’t you have work to do?”
“Nah.”
Michael had been afraid of that answer.
His whole life, Jeb had been a second father when his own had been too busy with family and obligations. Jeb had never treated Michael like a pesky kid. In fact, until today, the man had seemed to have endless patience.
“Jesus.” Michael fed his hand into his hair. How could he admit this? “She’s not interested in a relationship.”
“Which is why she drives hours out of her way to see you? Why she treks up here all the time?”
“Sex.” Mind-blowing sex. “Nothing more.”
“You’re nine kinds of fool if you believe the bullshit you’re feeding yourself. The woman looks at you like your mama looked at your father.”
Michael sat back.
The love between his parents had been amazing, to the point the two of them had seemed to exclude the rest of the world. Following his mom’s death, his father had become a shadow of his former self.
“Pull your head out of your ass, son. Think about what happened from Sydney’s point of view.”
He scowled. Jeb knew nothing about Sydney, or Michael’s relationship with her.
“Do you recall nothing I taught you about horses?”
The things Jeb had told Sydney returned to Michael.
“Takes a lot of patience and dedication. Establishing trust. Spending time with it, grooming it, asking nothing in return.”
“That time with Bandit?”
The rescue animal was now among Michael’s favorite horses. Bandit had been on a ranch, neglected for years. By the time the gelding had arrived at Eagle’s Bend, he was as skittish as he was ill-tempered.
Bandit had required months of intense work, but now he was solid, with an even temperament. Michael would trust Bandit with the newest of riders. “What’s your point?”
“You gave him what he needed.”
Like a thundercloud, aggravation closed in around him. “You’re suggesting I didn’t behave that way with Sydney?”
“Did you?” Jeb countered.
“I never pressured her.”
Jeb didn’t respond.
“Expecting nothing in return.” Right up until that fateful night, Michael had never demanded more than she wanted to give. And once he had…
“Something made her cry when she left.”
Shit.
That information was a deep, jagged stab wound.
Michael pushed back from his desk and strode to the window. He could have done without having that image seared into his mind.
Facing Jeb again, he said, “I didn’t demand she give up her life.”
“Does she know that?”
“Look, it doesn’t matter. Better I find out now. Right?” Who am I trying to convince? “At some point, I need a wife. And a family.” No sense spending time on a woman who didn’t want the same things he did.
“On your terms.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Figure it out. No one likes ultimatums, son.”
“Who said I gave her one?”
“Tell me you didn’t.”
Michael blew out an annoyed breath. How did Jeb know him so well?
“When something matters, you’ve always been willing to work for it.” Like Michael, Jeb stood. “You need to stop brooding and make a plan.”
“I’m not brood—”
“Yeah. You are.”
Michael didn’t respond. The truth stared him in the face, and he hated it.
“You need to get away from here for a while, catch a change of scenery. Take a vacation.”
The solace of ranch life was all he needed.
“Do yourself a favor and take a break. Something more than an occasional evening at Damien’s place. Or a trip to town for more liquor.”
Not that anywhere local carried Bonds whiskey. The expensive-as-shit brand he drank required a special delivery.
“Being away helped you figure out a lot of things.”
Much as he hated to admit it, Jeb was right.
Michael had attended school in College Station, Texas, where he’d studied agribusiness and ranch management. During his four years, he hadn’t spent much time at home, even over the holidays—something he’d later regretted.
Eventually, however, the majesty of the land and his connection to family had beckoned, calling him back across the miles.
“Eagle’s Bend gets in your blood,” Jeb observed.
Michael nodded.
“At least it does for the right person.” Jeb tipped back his remaining drink, then thumped the empty glass back onto the desk. “Think about what I said.”
Jeb reseated his hat, one Michael suddenly noticed was missing a chunk. “Chewie?”
“Pest,” Jeb acknowledged with an affectionate tone.
Guess I have another purchase to make.
“She needs a companion. Like you do.”
Jeb slammed the door behind him, hard enough to make the door dance in its frame. Long after he’d left, his words lingered on the late afternoon air, repeating themselves in Michael’s head.
Alone—and fucking lonely in a way he’d never been before—he stalked to his desk and dropped back down into his chair.
Reluctantly, he conceded he’d handled the situation with Sydney all wrong.
From a place of anger and hurt, he’d lashed out, saying unforgivable things.
One thing was sure as hell, he wouldn’t have reacted positively to behavior like that from her.
Early on, she’d confided in him, telling him about her ex and his abusive, demeaning ways. And Michael had responded by saying a true Dominant looked after their submissive’s needs, putting their interests first.
And he’d added that a good Dominant not only nurtured, but also protected.
Wincing in self-judgment, he picked up a pen and drummed it in front of him.
When Jeb had challenged him, Michael hadn’t wanted to admit that he actually had issued her an ultimatum. But that was exactly what he’d done—behaved in a way that was completely out of character for him.
Then, in the silence of his office, in a place where his ancestors had faced harsh truths and made tough decisions, an inescapable realization seared him.
He was in love with Sydney.
Christ.
Falling in love was never supposed to happen again.
That unstable emotion risked his heart, left the ranch—and his legacy—vulnerable.
But there it was—truth interwoven with reality, and he dropped the pen as his shoulders fell forward.
Even as they’d scened together and he’d invited her to his home, he’d told himself he could confine his feelings to a D/s dynamic.
But the sexual charge between him and Sydney buzzed with as much energy as a mountain lightning storm. It was intense, as immediate as it was scorching.
Over time, that had flared into respect, then affection.
When she was on the property, her passion and infectious laughter had breathed life into Eagle’s Bend.
And he was lost without her.
Sydney might believe, honestly believe, that sex was all they shared.
Yet there was no way she could have faked her joy at being here, with him.
And when he’d thrown down his parting words, she could have countered, made a promise to come back another time and stay for longer. Anything to have given him a glimmer of hope.
But her expression had been stricken.
To her, after Lewis, there could be no greater threat than falling in love again and risking her very precious freedom.
Throwing down the pen, he surged to his feet and returned to the window, this time to stare out.
Fuck it all.
Jeb had been right on a lot of fronts. Michael hadn’t been patient, hadn’t even told her how he felt. And when something mattered to him, he was willing to work for it.
You’re mine, Sydney.
And he was goddamn well intent on proving it to her.