Dakota Love Me: Tiller Brothers Book 2 (14 page)

Removing the ice pack and towel he had put between his ankle and the ice, Georgia groaned when she realized how swollen it was.  “You’re going to have to stay off it for a few days.”  She was worried about her dad.  From her experience, he would just ignore his injury and carry on even with a bad ankle.  He could be stubborn like that.

“Well if it had to happen, now is as good as any time,” Justin said. “Not much going on around the ranch.  Jeffery and Peter will be checking on the herd and making sure no fences are down.”

“Dakota and I can make sure the horses are feed so don’t worry about anything.  I’ll cook your meals. Heck, I can feed the horses by myself if Dakota wants to keep tinkering with that tractor.” 

Justin smiled at his daughter.  “Always looking out for me, aren’t you?  Like I said not much going on.”

“What’d the Sheriff say?” Dakota asked as he sat down on the couch next to Georgia.

“Well since we didn’t recognize the truck and didn’t see who was driving, and we can’t prove someone else opened the gate, there wasn’t much they could do.”

That’s shit
.  Georgia knew her dad wouldn’t have left it unlocked and the only one who had a vendetta against the family was Sharon.  She was worried for her dad, but she didn’t voice her opinion.

Dakota’s phone buzzed. “Jared, you guys made it home okay?”  After a few minutes listening to Jared talk, Dakota said, “Man, that sucks.  No I think I can get there.  Tell Matt to not even try driving out of Laramie if they got hit by snow, too.  I have my chains and I can get there as soon as I can.  Don’t let Jenny go out in the blizzard.  She’ll want to try to help but no sense putting her in danger, too.  In fact, don’t send any of those young ranch hands out alone, they’re still too green not to get in as much trouble as the frozen cows.  I’ll call you when I leave.”

Georgia had sat in silence. Oh God, can anything else go wrong. She knew what happened in deep snow blizzards, the cows and heifers could freeze or die without hay being brought into them.  She asked him, “Is it bad?”

Dakota ran his hands through his hair.  “Yeah, I gotta go. They’ve already had over a foot of snow just this morning, and it’s still snowing.  We could lose a lot of cattle.  I don’t want to leave you but you need to stay and take care of your dad.”

She was torn between going with the man she loved and helping the Tiller family or staying with her dad.

“This fucking sucks,” Justin said.  “Sorry, Georgia. I heard they were going to get snow, and we were expected to get it bad, but it went by us.  I’d go help you if I thought I wouldn’t just get in your way.  I could probably drive a truck…I just couldn’t get out and help.”

“No Justin, you need to stay here and keep an eye on your ranch and especially Georgia.  Cody said he’d try to be there by tomorrow but the airports are having all sorts of cancelations.  I’ll go get packed up.  I can probably get there by tonight unless they close down a road, but with chains I’ll probably just go around.  Sounds like we might lose a lot of cattle with the heavy snow and freezing temperatures.  Shit.”  He put his arms around Georgia.  “Come with me while I load the truck.  I already have a first aid and weather emergency kit, but could use an extra sleeping bag in case I get stuck somewhere.”

“I have one at the cabin and extra candles.  I’m going to be worrying about you.  You better call as soon as you get there.”

At the cabin, he closed the door and pulled Georgia into his arms.  “God, I’m going to miss you.  After I thought I’d lost you forever and now when we are back together and I want to stay with you…this happens.”  He put his head on her forehead.  “I love you, honey.  Stay safe and stay with your dad.  Don’t go into town by yourself, until they find out what Sharon is up to.  I don’t trust her not to try to hurt you or your father.  Keep your dad’s shotgun loaded.  Damn, I don’t want to leave you.”  He kissed her as if he didn’t ever want to let her go.  “Maybe I should take you to the bedroom and give you some contentment before I go.”

She kissed him, “As much as I’d like to keep you here all afternoon, I’d rather you left right away so you aren’t driving in the dark and in the snow.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, go before I change my mind and keep you here and never let you go and your damn cows all freeze.”

“Harsh…I better go before you tie me to the bed,” he laughed.  “I’ll call you wherever I have a signal.”

It was five hours later when Georgia finally heard from Dakota.  His voice had sounded weary and she knew he was exhausted. “Was it bad?” she asked.

“Yeah, luckily I followed a snow plow, but I did have to put my chains on before I drove into the ranch.  I’m going to get some coffee and then Jared and I are going to pull the hay sleds with our snowmobiles and I’ll see how bad it is.  Jared had just gotten back an hour ago and he already saw a dozen cows frozen.  He has to warm up before we go out again.”

She wanted to tell him not to go out in the frozen darkness, but she knew if the situation was reversed, she and her dad would be doing the same thing. Her eyes closed as she visualized Dakota with his five o’clock shadow on his face and his tired eyes. She knew he was a strong man who could handle this crisis and she had faith in him.  Still she wished she were there working beside him so that she wouldn’t worry.

“I miss you already.  Be careful and don’t push yourself to the point of total exhaustion or you won’t be any good to anyone.  When the snow ends, you’ll need your strength to get all the dead cattle buried.  I heard the Governor is going to file a state emergency and you’ll get some financial help I’m sure.  Dad said a few of the ranchers from around here are going to head out tomorrow to see if they can help.  Wish I could come.”

“No honey, you stay with your dad.  Who knows how long this will take.  Cody and Tammy won’t be able to get in until tomorrow, if the airlines don’t cancel their flight again.  Can I call you when we get back to the ranch?  It might be really late, but I need to hear your voice.”

“You better.  Love you Dakota.  Call me.”

Four hours later, she woke up to the ringing of her phone.  “Dakota, you okay?”

“A few frozen toes and fingers and…I’m still trying to thaw out.  Got the fireplace going and I’m almost asleep under several quilts, wishing you were here.”

“If I were there, what would you do?” she asked in a soft breathless voice as she placed her fingers over her lips and closed her eyes.

“Well I’m afraid I would have my frozen hands and feet wrapped around your warm body, but I don’t think it would take more than a few minutes for us to heat up because I’d have to suck your breasts and put my fingers in your warm oven, and you’d already be dripping that cream I like so much. You’d be running your fingers through my hair and over my cheeks as I made your nipples so hard you will feel it all the way to your toes.”

“Oh my God, your raspy, sexy voice is washing over my body and I’m feeling hot from just your words.  Just thinking about what your tongue and mouth would be doing to me is about to make me come, Dakota.”

“My thoughts exactly.  Next I’d have to place my tongue against your pussy and flick my tongue back and forth and rub my thumb until you are on the verge of coming and then I’ll suck you until I feel you quivering. I’ll flip you over and jam my swollen cock into you” he paused and took a breath.  “You coming yet, Georgia?”

“Oh God, Dakota, I may need to use my fingers because I’m missing you so much.  What have you done to me, my cowboy?”

“Feeling the same way, honey.”  They were both quiet for a few minutes. “Oh Shit,” Dakota shouted.  “I forgot my fingers were still frozen and I tried to fist my cock.  That was definitely a mood changer.”  They both laughed.

“I better let you get some sleep, remember stay with your dad so I don’t have to worry about you to.  Night darlin’.”

Dakota was ready to go back to Georgia.  He was getting sick of being away from her.  At least the disaster work was winding down with the snow melting and blowing away.  They’d had to haul a lot of dead carcasses to the dump sight.  It hadn’t been easy with the frozen ground and their damn plow had picked a hell of a time to start acting up.  He and Dakota had been working on it all morning. Jared was taking care of all the other ranch’s normal activities. His mom had even temporally moved back on the ranch to help Tammy with cooking for so many people who had volunteered to help. Cameron had even gotten time off from his magazine to come help. He’d promised them a story about the effects of the storm. Cameron was out checking for anymore dead cattle. 

A few of the ranchers from other areas of the state not effected by one of Wyoming’s worst late fall snow storms had come to help them save what cattle they could, but now most of the other ranchers had gone home.  They had found many of the cattle frozen in their low lying lands where the snow had completely covered them up.  Dakota had never seen a disaster of this magnitude on his ranch.  He was thankful that his sister Jenny, as the ranch’s bookkeeper, had done a good job saving some of their profits over the last half dozen years for just this type of emergency.  The ranch would survive.  It helped that both he and Cody had made a lot of money on the circuit and through their sponsors.  They wouldn’t have to go borrow money to get back on their feet like many of the other nearby families were going to have to do. 

Georgia’s dad had called and told him he’d give them a good price on some heifers and some already bred cows.  Many of the other ranchers offered to help the ranchers who lost so many of their herds.  Dakota knew why he always loved being a rancher.  He liked the hard work, but it was the culture of the western men and women who worked ranches and farms.  They were the kind of people who would give you the shirt off their backs because they knew you’d do the same for them.  If your barn burned down, they’d all come to help rebuild it.  If it was branding time, you could count on your neighbors coming to help.  Everything was going to be restored to order.  But what he needed the most was Georgia.  Living these weeks without her made him realize he wasn’t whole without her.  And although they had spent lots of time on the phone and texting each other, enough was enough. Damn it, he missed her. At dinner he was going to tell Cody and the family he was going back to Georgia’s place the next day and that he planned to ask her to marry him when the timing was right.

All the ranch hands were back and the clean–up was going as well as expected.  He wanted to see Georgia before he had to head out to California for three Professional Rodeo Rider’s events in San Diego, Ontario, and Bakersfield, California in the later part of November.  If his sponsors didn’t expect him to be there to promote their new product line, he would have skipped it.  If he continued to do well on the circuit the extra money would come in handy.  Certainly when he received his advertising fees he would be back in good standing and he’d have extra money to buy his girl the ring he wanted to get her.  He needed to help build back up the family savings, and his own account.  He didn’t want to start a long term a relationship without sufficient money in the bank. 

After California he’d take December off from the rodeo circuit to spend time split between his family and Georgia’s family.  And he planned to bring Georgia with him back to their ranch for a while so the family could get to know her better.  The next stop on the rodeo tour was the National Western Rodeo and Stock show in Denver, Colorado in January.  That’s where he hoped to ask Georgia to marry him.  God at least that’s what he hoped, if nothing else went wrong. 

And damn but he was still worried.  He knew she was still in danger from that crazy bitch Sharon and being away from her the last several weeks had caused him nothing but anxiety in addition to the stress caused by the storm.  Justin had called him several times to assure him that they were keeping a close eye on Georgia and that Sharon and her son had disappeared from sight.  That didn’t necessarily reassure him that Georgia was safe.

At dinner that night, he listened to Cameron talking about Kate.  He smiled to himself, that his little brother wouldn’t even admit to himself that he really liked Kate.  Unconsciously, he made references about her all during the day.  Yeah, most of the time he was cussing her out, but that didn’t keep him from thinking about her.  It was just a matter of time and Cameron was going to get off of first base and see where things were going with her.

“She quit the magazine,” Cameron said, “and moved back to Rapid City where her daughter is.  After complaining so bad about me stealing her story, you’d think she’d be more serious about her job.  Can’t understand that woman.”

“You never told us how your date with Kate went in Vegas,” Jenny asked.

His eyes took on a thoughtful far-away expression.  “Don’t know…guess it went good.  We didn’t argue, not much anyway.  She can be so stubborn.”

“Did you kiss her?” she giggled.

“Sis did anyone ever tell you that you need to keep your nose out of other people’s business especially your brothers.”

“So you did kiss her, ha ha…” Jenny pointed her fork at Cameron.

Jared put his arm around his new wife, “Careful darlin’ a man’s got to have some secrets about the ladies he dates.”

“You have secrets?”

“No Jenny, I have you.  Just give me a kiss and leave Cameron alone,” to which she did just that.

Kissing at the table had been a common occurrence with the two newlyweds present.  Honestly, it made Dakota just a little jealous. Their mom had canceled the wedding reception for Cody and Tammy and would be rescheduling it in the spring as more of a thank you party for all the help their neighbors had given them and also for them to get to know Tammy better.  Dakota was happy for his brother and sister who had found the kind of love with Tammy and Jared; he hoped he’d have for the rest of his life with Georgia.

“Speaking of women.  You may have guessed that I’ve fallen hard for Georgia.  I’m going to ask her to marry me, hopefully in January at the Denver Stock.”

Everyone offered their congratulations at the same time.  There were high fives and a few raised beers to toast the announcement.

“I always thought I would spend the rest of my life living at the ranch, but I think if Georgia wants to live on her ranch, I’m going to move there.  You know you can always count on me to come back and help when you need me.”

Cody said, “Whether you live here or not, this is your ranch, too and you will get some of the profits.  But bro we want you to be happy, wherever you live.  I mean that.”

“Thank you.  I have to start the Pro Rodeo circuit in California in a few days so I’ve decided to go spend some time with Georgia before I leave.  Damn, I miss her and I’m still worried about Justin’s crazy ex.  That bull could have killed her.  You don’t know how terrified Georgia is of those bulls.  Leaving her so soon after her near miss with the bull was hard enough.  I just don’t want to go the whole month without being with her.”

“We are winding down on the effects of the storm and we’ve got all of our help back.  I agree you need to go be with her.  We’ll do our best to all come see you at the Denver Stock Growers Show,” Cody said shaking Dakota’s hand.  “You more than did your share to help save the heifers and cows.  It would have been worse without you there with Jared.  I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to get home.”

“Thanks.”

Cameron said, “I’m thinking about making some changes, too.  You know I like being here at the ranch, but I really like being a writer.  I’m thinking about giving notice after the Denver show, and coming home to work here and do what I always wanted to do in my down time.  I want to write cowboy stories.  I want to see if I can get some books published.  It’ll be hard and I know up front I’ll get some rejections but I’ve got the gumption to work hard and keep at it.”

Dakota said, “That’s not a big surprise Cameron.  You have been writing and keeping journals since you were a kid, and you spent more time writing when we traveled than anything.  I know you’ll make it.  I hope someday you find the right woman, maybe Kate, to complete the rest of your life.”

Cameron laughed, “Don’t know about Kate, but thanks I want to do this.”

Dakota felt peace sitting with his family talking at the dinner table.  This was a close family and all he needed was to add Georgia to their family.  He couldn’t wait.