Chapter Six
Gage had been watching the entrance to the gas station, waiting for her to come out.
The bus pulled away, so the little doubt he had about the random tourist visit couldn’t work.
It seemed like forever, so Gage decided to take a seat by an outdoor seating area to the side of the gas station store out of sight.
He wanted to catch her looking for him, so he moved over to the benches with a large umbrella that gave him some shade, keeping the sun out of his eyes.
A few minutes later, a ding from the front door caught his attention. It had to be her. She came out and walked around for a moment with a surprised expression on her face. An audible gasp could be heard from her as she scanned around the empty gas station lot. She must be searching for the bus.
“Shit,” she muttered just as a vehicle pulled in. She darted between two pumps where the garbage can sat. She leaned against the frame of the pump next, plastering herself to the side so they couldn’t see her.
Gage noticed something peculiar was going on. She ducked behind his SUV the second they pulled into a parking spot in front of the convenience store. The two men that stepped out of the car were too obvious to be missed in their suits and sunglasses, standing out like sore thumbs.
Needing to get home to check on the cattle, Gage unlocked his SUV with the click of his key fob. He’d just about got halfway to his vehicle when one of the guys called out, “Hey, you. Hey, cowboy.”
With a grimace, he spun on his heels, turned, and addressed the jackass. “Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for a young lady.”
“Aren’t we all,” Gage muttered, smiling at the thug in the suit who didn’t return the humor.
He brushed off Gage’s tease and continued. “She was in here a few minutes ago. Have you seen her?” They showed Gage a picture of the girl in question.
The minx following him hadn’t been following him at all—she’d been running from these fools. He wouldn’t let them have her. No one could have her but him.
“Yeah, she’s hot, but she wouldn’t even make any eye contact. I thought she got on the bus,” Gage offered.
“Are you sure?”
“Sorry, no. I don’t pay attention once a woman blows me off. I got a call when the bus pulled away.” Gage shrugged with his palms turning upward. “Sorry, fella. Maybe you can try to catch up to that bus. It only left five minutes or so ago.” He pointed in the direction the bus had left.
“Thanks,” the goon muttered ungratefully and headed inside to speak with the attendant.
Gage turned and walked to his truck with a smile on his face.
He entered his vehicle and refused to acknowledge the pretty little thing tucked down in his back seats with his coat over her body.
He could smell her sweet scent, and she’d draped herself in his jacket.
Fuck. He adjusted his hard cock before pulling out of the station.
He was a few miles from his home and knew that the gas station didn’t have a working surveillance system because it broke last month and the owner couldn’t afford to buy a good one.
They were out in the middle of nowhere, and traffic was few and far between, so they didn’t feel the need for one.
Most customers were local folks working on the farms.
The drive was short, but it felt so long because Gage fought himself from stealing glances at his stowaway.
He had a plan to bring his little doll peacefully into the house as long as he could control his dick long enough to stay down.
Bill and the hands were out on the pasture letting the cows feed, so he had a chance to sneak her inside without anyone seeing.
Once he jumped out of the truck in front of his large ranch house, he walked around to the backdoor and opened it. “So, gorgeous, let’s get you in the house before someone sees you.”
A territorial urge came over him at the thought of one of his hands seeing her. Beautiful barely even scratched the surface as far as he was concerned. Her long red hair had been messed up from the ride, giving him the image of what she would look like when she woke up.
She shook her head at him, nervously appraising Gage’s tall and broad figure. He knew how intimidating he appeared. It helped him in the courtroom every time he came up to a weak witness.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I’m not going to hurt you, but I sure as fuck don’t want anyone creeping on my property looking for you. Got it?”
“I’m Hope,” she said, sticking out her hand for him to grab. A jolt of electricity struck him, only serving to make his interest in her grow.
“I’m Gage,” he mumbled, his cock throbbed as the softness of her hand pressed into his rough hands.
He led her into the house, locking all the doors and keeping the window shades and curtains shut.
Seeing the skittish look in her eyes and the way she tucked her body inward and with her lip quivering, he raised his hand slightly in a wait-a-minute motion.
Getting irritated that she believed him to be a danger to her, he bit out, “I told you, I’m not gonna hurt you. You’re Cummings’s daughter, correct?”
“How do you know that?”
“One, those two goons showed me your photo. Two, my friend with the Rangers asked me to help look for you. Then you slunk behind my vehicle before you jumped in my truck, saving me the trouble of hunting the whole damn state of Texas for you.”
“You’re not going to turn me in, are you?”
“I don’t like your daddy. In fact, if I could, I’d put a bullet in his ass this very minute. What I want to know is what the hell is going on, and why they’re on a tear, looking for you. But first, let me get you something to drink or eat. You must have had one hell of a day.”
“I really have, but in a sense, I’m so happy. Thank you, Gage.”
“Anything to make you happy, darling,” he added, tossing her a wink while smirking as if he was only goofing around, but Gage felt in his heart that he meant those words.
She followed him into the kitchen, watching the way his ass moved in his perfectly fitted Wranglers. “Um, so you’re a rancher?” she questioned, hoping to make some sort of small talk to avoid the real topic at hand.
“I will be. I used to be a prosecutor, but I turned in my briefcase for this.” He spanned his arms out wide, gesturing to the house and land.
The house was magnificent and had recently been made over.
“I had a lot of this place remodeled before I threw in the towel completely. Now, I’m working on getting my cattle and a bunch of hired hands. ”
The house was extremely quiet for anyone else to be inside. And from what little she saw, there wasn’t another soul around. “How long ago was that? I don’t see anyone else around.”
“It’s only been six months since I gave it up.
And there ain’t no one else around but a few of the crew members.
My momma lives down the road on a part of the property, but that’s about it.
No wife or kids.” He opened the fridge, then lifted his head above the opened door and asked, “Do you want a soda, tea, or water?”
“Some tea if it’s cold and sweet.”
“Is there any other way?”
“There is. And it’s not pleasant.” She rolled her eyes, remembering the tea party she had to host for her father’s friends. The ladies took their tea hot with a side of lemon like they had a cold or something. After taking one sip, Hope knew that it was either iced sweet tea or no tea at all.
“That look has an interesting story behind it,” he remarked, placing a large glass pitcher with the light brown colored sweet liquid onto the kitchen island. Then he turned around to pull out two large glasses, giving Hope another view of his backside.
She’d honestly never been this interested in a man before.
A thought hit her, and she knew it was wrong, so she pushed it back away.
If she lost her virginity to him, then she wouldn’t be worth the sale.
A part of her knew that it had nothing to do with her predicament, but rather with the fact that her body lit up in Gage’s presence.
“Um…sorry. Not really. I tasted hot tea with just lemon, and I’m sure it was just a cup of dirty water.”
He chuckled heartily, making Hope blush, which he noticed as he poured the drinks. His distraction was obvious as the tea spilled over onto the surface. “Ah, shit.”
“Wasting all that precious nectar.”
Gage immediately thought about another precious nectar he wanted to make a mess of. He’d been fortunate that the kitchen island was between them. He didn’t want to scare the already hesitant young woman.
“I recognize my failure. It’s a sin. However, shall I make it right?” he sighed, pressing a hand to his heart.
Hope rolled her eyes at his antics, wondering how in the world someone could be that perfect. Then another awful thought crept into her mind. She needed to leave this place. She couldn’t risk putting him in danger. They would go looking for her. Someone somewhere would recognize her.
“Maybe you can drive me out of town?” she offered, scrunching down one side of her face.
“Where were you planning to go?” he asked as he cleaned up the mess with a dark green kitchen towel.
“I hadn’t gotten that far in my escape. Somewhere far away, I suppose.”
“I say you were because you’re not going anywhere.
Your pretty little ass is staying put. I can see that look in your eyes.
I’ve seen it on many of the defendants. You’re itching to bolt, but I’m going to tell you the world out there isn’t kind, and by the manhunt out there for you, I doubt you’ll be safe on your own.
Fuck, even if there wasn’t a host of pieces of shit roaming the state for your ass, there are tons of perverts that love to attack a defenseless little girl. ”
“I’m not a little girl.” She slapped her hands on her waist, huffing at him, which made her perky tits bounce and jut forward, destroying his integrity one movement at a time.