Chapter 9
Travis
Smiling wide, I looked at the woman with all of that red hair that was fanned all over my chest. In all of my wildest dreams, and believe me, I’ve had some dreams. I never imagined having a woman like Corrine at my side.
But none of the dreams, not one of them, would ever, not ever, compare to the feeling of being with Corrine.
At first, I wondered if it would feel this good with other women, about what I had been missing.
But when I told her to keep her eyes with mine when we came together, yeah that was the tell.
I was right. She is the one for me. “I love you.” I heard murmuring, and then her soft snore settled the rapid beat of my heart.
Fucking A.
That night before sleep claimed me, I had in my mind the tattoo that I was having placed over my heart which was bare and blank for the one woman that would capture all of me. I haven’t slept so peacefully in my entire life.
Rolling over, I moved my arm to wrap the warm body that I had fallen asleep with last night, closer to my side, only when my arm swept the bed. The sheets were bare.
The sheets weren’t cold, but they were still warm.
That was when the smell of bacon permeated the air and hot coffee. However, it wasn’t the female laughter that had me rushing out of bed.
No, it was the male voice.
I grabbed the first pair of jeans my hands touched, throwing them on uncaring if they were clean or not, I walked out of the bedroom without snapping my jeans.
Stalking down my stairs I rounded the corner and walked into the kitchen.
Without even hesitating what I was about to do, I walked up behind Corrine, wrapped my arm around her waist, pulled her back to my front, and glared at my foreman Parker from over Corrine’s head.
That glare had the effect that I wanted.
Parker looked put in his place as he tipped his hat to Corrine as he turned and walked out of the kitchen.
Placing a kiss on Corrine’s head, I stalked over to the kitchen door and locked the fucking door. We weren’t getting interrupted again by my men. Fuck that.
Turning, I prowled back to her. She had watched me walk to the door as I flipped the lock, her eyes were warm, and all of the love that she held for me was evident.
I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulled her back into my embrace, bent my head, and placed it in the crook of her neck.
With her hands automatically coming to my biceps, I whispered, “I love you.”
I pulled my head away as she looked up in my eyes, she hadn’t needed to say it back. Not when I had grabbed her ass, hauled her up, placed her perfect ass on my island, and then I devoured my woman.
Luckily, I was tall enough, compared to the island.
There we broke in the island for the first time. However, I didn’t have a condom in my pocket. When I stilled, Corrine knowingly looked at me as she brought my body closer to hers. The look on her face said she didn’t care.
Corrine never once gave me an ounce of protest. No protesting about someone looking in through the windows so they could see what was going on, and not protesting about the ringing of a cell phone somewhere off in the distance.
She had to get on birth control. The moment I had her bare, there was no going back to that, as she came down from her high, she planted her face in my chest and murmured, “I love you too.”
What I cared for, was the fact that she sat there on my island after I finished helping her cook breakfast, she fucking hand-fed me some bacon.
The next day while I was working, I hadn’t been able to wipe the smile from my face. So this is what it feels like to finally be happy?
“Boss, why are you smiling?” Colton asked me from his perch on the outside corner rail of the corral.
“Don’t even ask, he ain’t gonna tell you, man. I’ve been asking him all morning.” Pete sputtered out.
Fucking idiots.
However, my good mood was brought to a halt. That all too familiar little white sports car pulled up into my drive.
I looked up towards the sky and questioned the atmosphere, what the fuck?
“Sorry boss.” Half of my hands all got off the rails of the corral and fled. Hell, I didn’t blame them. Not one fucking bit.
“Hi!” Susan waved enthusiastically. As I watched her exit her little sports car, had she listened to a word I had told her? No. She hadn’t’ of course. This time she was in an even shorter skirt.
“What in the hell are you wearing?” I growled out.
“Well, to be honest, I was hoping that we could not work with my horse today. I thought maybe we could go grab a bite to eat.” She brought her hand out and tried to touch my forearm from where they were crossed in front of my chest, no, I stepped back out of her reach.
“I don’t give a flying fuck what you thought. I told you, that if you ever showed up dressed like how you were last week that you might as well bring a horse trailer with you. You are no longer a client of mine.”
“I thought you were joking with me.” She tried to poke her bottom lip out to pout. Little did she know that shit didn’t work on me, only one woman would ever be able to get away with doing that.
Speaking of the devil, my woman’s car came up the driveway. Now my day was righted.
I watched as she climbed out of her car and I licked my lips, “Hey,” Corrine said with a beautiful little blush.
“Beautiful. Were your ears ringing?” I smirked at her.
She smiled softly as she asked with a scrunched nose, “No. Why?” That fucking beautiful blush.
“Because I was thinking about you.” I winked at her, then our little moment was broken.
Susan nasally asked, “So is this what I am no longer a client. Because you are trying to replace what we have?”
“Wow, that’s funny as if he wouldn’t want to replace a four with a ten.” I heard Corrine mutter that quietly, but not as quietly as I think she meant to be, and that statement pissed me the fuck off.
Did she really not see what I saw? I knew she was calling herself the four, hell fucking no.
“You know you're more like a fifteen in my book, right?” I asked her as I placed my forefinger under her chin as I tilted her head back up until our eyes locked.
“Travis.” My name coming from her lips always did something to me, it went straight to my core.
“I’m standing right here. You can have me you know. Hell, I have myself on a silver platter held out to you.” Would it be against the law if I placed a piece of duct tape over her mouth?
“You're not the one I want. Nor will I ever want you.” I told Susan.
“But I just don’t understand.” And she never would.
Corrine stood beside me, a silent force letting me know that she had my back no matter what.
I was over all of this shit, growling I pulled out my phone. While I placed a call, I stared at Corrine. She looked good today. Sure she looked great every day in her denim jeans and her fitted t-shirt. All of that long red hair flew down her back in waves.
Smiling at her I bent my head, uncaring of the audience, and kissed her hard on the mouth. Her shocked wide-eyed expression was perfect.
I pulled away from her when I heard, “Yeah.”
“Yeah, I told you the next time your daughter shows up to my ranch for her lessons and she isn’t dressed properly that you need to bring a trailer and get her horse off my property. I want the horse off my property in an hour.” With that being the end of the conversation, I hung up on the man.
“Get off my property. Now.” I bit out at Susan.
The welling of tears in her eyes wasn’t something new. Sighing, I turned, grabbed Corrine’s hand, and led her to the stables.
While Corrine worked with Stormy for an endurance ride that she wanted to partake in, I heard Robert Waters speaking animatedly with his daughter. She had left, but she had come back with her daddy in their truck and trailer.
“Sir, when Mr. Denton says something, it gets done. Doesn’t matter how much money you want to throw at him. Your daughter is no longer a client.” Parker told them.
Pete pulled her horse Gillespie behind him, while Junior, Tim, and Jack carried all of the junk that Susan had to have in the stables. Hell, she had to have three shelves instead of the one that most of my clients had.
“You let your Mr. Denton know that he should be expecting a call from my lawyer.” Robert told Parker.
“And you sir, better be ready to fall on your ass. You might be known in your little social circle Mr. Waters, but Mr. Denton has more politician’s in his pocket than you can ever dream of.
” Parker wasn’t lying. Over the last ten years, I have had those types of clients which were also repeat clients.
Putting all of that from my mind, I instructed her on exercises that she needed to start doing so she would be ready as well. It wasn’t just the horse that had to be ready, but it was also the rider.
Instead of doing some of those exercises with her that night after we ate dinner, she made fried chicken, mac n cheese, and fresh-baked rolls, we may or may not have worked solely on cardio that night.
I had to go for a week to Kentucky where they were holding an auction. The moment I parked my truck with my empty trailer I slammed the door a lot harder than I needed.
“Boss.”
“Sir.”
When four of my other hands walked by me with smiles on their faces and nothing else, I thought that they had been deep into the kool-aid already.
Glancing down at my watch, I saw that it was almost five on a Friday so I couldn’t blame them.
Seeing as I had been in an ill-fire temper ever since I came back from my trip to Kentucky empty-handed.
I wanted those horses; however, someone had outbid me on all five of them.
Nothing registered to me. Not Corrine’s car in her parking spot. Not her boots on the shoe rack, not even my favorite song playing through the house speakers.
Nothing clicked until I stopped dead in my tracks and just stared at the red-haired beauty that was swaying her delectable ass at the stove.