Heartbreak Ranch (11 page)

“Twenty-eight,” he said dryly.

“Speaking of age, I wish you would stop thinking of me as though I am a little girl.”

His hand cupped one of her breasts. “If I thought of you as no more than a little girl, you wouldn’t be lying here naked as the day you were born.”

Even his lightest touches were enough to ignite a flame in Graysen’s body. “Colt, when you touch me, it makes me weak ...”

He shot up out of bed. “What did I say about talk like that?”

Graysen looked at him and giggled. He ran his hands through his hair and muscles rippled up and down the length of his body. She drank him in with her eyes. She had no doubt he was the reason they invented Wranglers.

“I swear, you’re going to be the end of me, girl,” he teased as he pulled on his jeans before turning to flash a wicked grin.

“Well, if you must go back to your cabin tonight, I’ll walk you there.” He refused to let her dress herself, muttering something about her wearing clothing being a sin, and he slowly and quite agonizingly ran his hands over her body while putting her panties, bra, and dress back on her.

They took their time walking back to her cabin. Hungry to know each other more, they started talking about their favorite things. Graysen wanted to devour him like a slice of chocolate cake. She wanted to know what he loved and what he hated. She wanted to know how he learned to ride, how old he was when he first tamed a horse. She wanted to know everything there was to know about her handsome ranch hand.

“Middle name?” Colt asked as they took their time.

“Elizabeth. And yours?”

“My given name is Colton Jeremiah McCord.”

She smiled and pictured him as a young boy with his momma calling him by his full name when he was in trouble.

“What’s your favorite food?”

“Ribeye ... although after tonight I think that’s changed. I’d much rather feast on you ...”

“Colt!” She smacked his arm in playful protest.

He laughed and kissed her hair. “What about you?”

“Mmm ... chocolate cake, most definitely.”

Their love walk continued, their hands intertwined and their bodies embracing in the cool Wyoming night. He kept stopping to kiss her and hold her, not wanting to let her go back to her cabin.

“Spend the day with me tomorrow,” Colt whispered as he nuzzled her neck, pressing her up against the back of the house.

“Yes ... oh yes ...” She sighed as his hands cupped her face and his mouth once again slashed over hers. She would do whatever it took to see him as much as possible in the next days. Her vacation was now a time to explore her deepest desires.

***

Dawn was knocking at night’s door when Colt finally made it back to his cabin. He stared in amazement at the tangled sheets on his bed. How had it happened? How had everything come to life suddenly, like a black and white film redone in Technicolor? He couldn’t remember feeling happier, freer, and more at ease. Graysen belonged to him. For a few blissful moments, she was open and unguarded. All that existed was the energy between them and it throbbed with sweet promises.

He stripped in the bathroom, throwing his jeans and socks in the hamper. If she’d stayed the night, she would be in the shower with him. He imagined her in that tight little shower, her warm, soft curves pressed into his body, and he grew hard at the thought of it. He knew he had to rein in his wild thoughts, or he wouldn’t be worth a damn herding the cattle tomorrow. “I’m too tired for more than one cold shower,” he mumbled as he washed his hair. Then he turned the water off and wrapped a towel around his waist. He padded barefoot to the kitchen, downed a tall glass of water, and then made his way into the bedroom.

He tossed the towel in the hamper and collapsed onto his bed. Graysen surrounded him. The scent of her body lotion lingered on the sheets and his pillows. “Damn it. She should be here sleeping in my arms instead of halfway across the ranch.” He wrapped his arms around the empty pillow and inhaled warm vanilla as he drifted off to sleep.

***

The next morning, Graysen woke up still snuggling the dress she wore last night. She clutched it tightly to her chest and inhaled deeply. It smelled like his shaving lotion. She could still feel him on her body. The mild ache between her legs made her smile because it was a reminder of what Colt and she had done last night. She relived those moments over and over again as she made her way through the cabin to the bathroom where she peeled off her robe and giggled. If anyone knew what she was doing in that sundress last night they wouldn’t believe her. She turned on the shower above the vintage claw-foot tub and pulled the curtain around on the rod.

Graysen returned from her icy shower and found Harper sitting on her bed, brushing her hair.

“Gray, can I ask you something?” Harper wasn’t her usual cheerful self. She was quiet, which was never a good sign.

Great … it’s Harper’s version of the Spanish Inquisition.
Graysen shook her head in a back-off-now way, but she might have well been dealing with a deaf, blind, mute.

Frowning and oblivious to Graysen’s apparent desire to avoid the conversation, Harper continued, “Late last night, I got up to get a drink.”

It was just Graysen’s luck that something like this would happen. Sneaking out in the middle of the night hadn’t been the most well-thought-out plan, but driven by desire last night, she wasn’t thinking objectively about it.

“And?” she asked Harper casually. She wasn’t about to incriminate herself, and chose to feign ignorance until her younger sister played her hand.

“And ... you weren’t in your bed, sleeping. I went out to the kitchen to get a drink. You were nowhere to be found. I stayed awake, wondering if I should wake Mom and Dad, and then I heard you slip into the bedroom.”

“Did you tell anyone?” Graysen looked concerned.

“No ... But what’s going on, Gray? It seems like you are always staying at the cabin or disappearing somewhere. I thought you had a migraine. Where did you go last night?” Harper stood up from the bed and set her hairbrush down, her hazel eyes brimming with concern. She put her arms around Graysen and gave her a hug.

“Harper, do you swear you won’t tell anyone?” Graysen knew she needed to tell her sister something to make her back off.

“Yes, I cross my heart and hope to ….” She rolled her eyes. “… Die. Spill it, Gray! You know I won’t tell a soul. I’ll pinky swear if you want … Geesh.”

Graysen sighed and gave in. If she was going to be involved with Colt it would be wise to have someone in her corner. “I met a guy, here at the ranch. I was with him last night.”

Harper’s eyes widened, and her face lit up. “Oh my god! I knew it! Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Is he hot? Wait a minute! I know exactly who it is! It’s that handsome ranch hand, isn’t it? It’s Colt!”

“Shhh … Harper! Keep your voice down!”

“Oh, Graysen! He’s unbelievably gorgeous, I’m so jealous!” she squealed.

“Carson thinks he is too old for me, so he is definitely way too old for you,” Graysen laughed.

“Wait, what did you guys do last night?” Harper’s voice burned with curiosity.

Graysen let her have all the unexciting details of her evening. “We just went for a walk.” Colt had walked her back to the cabin, so she wasn’t really misleading her sister.

“So do you like him?” Once Harper started chattering away about boys, she wouldn’t shut up.

Graysen just smiled and nodded. If her baby sister only knew how much she liked him ... The word “like” didn’t even begin to describe it.

“Did he kiss you?” Harper sat enthralled. The intrigue surrounding Graysen and Colt was better than any daytime television to her.

Graysen nodded, and more giggling ensued. Harper clapped her hands and jumped up and down like a school girl. “With or without tongue?”

“Harper, you’re just awful!” Graysen turned and buried her face underneath her pillow as she roared with laughter. Oh god ... the mention of the word “tongue” sent her mind racing with thoughts of what his mouth felt like crushed against hers, his tongue parting her lips. She blushed as she envisioned Colt’s mouth at the apex of her thighs.

***

There was a buffet set up in the main lodge for breakfast. People buzzed and bustled around their table. After just a few days at the ranch, Graysen’s parents were on a first-name basis with some of the other guests. She tried to listen to the conversation at the table, but her mind wandered. She stared at her plate of pancakes and wondered how quickly she could polish them off and excuse herself without being too obvious. She knew Colt was in the barn this morning, not too far from where she was eating breakfast, and she wanted to go see him.

As she was sipping the last of her coffee, some people who seemed friendly with her parents came over to their table. They seemed closer to her grandparents’ ages, and there was a younger man with them, probably Carson’s age. He didn’t seem to be the type of person to enjoy the whole dude ranch experience.

“Ellen, is there room at your table?” The older woman smiled at Graysen’s parents, and then at Carson and Harper, who also seemed to know them.

“We’d love it if you joined us for breakfast. Is this your grandson?” Graysen’s mother motioned to the young man.

“Yes, this is Brady. He wasn’t on the trail with us a couple days ago.”

Graysen realized they all must have met on the hike that she had skipped so she could meet up with Colt. No wonder she felt so out of touch.

“It’s very nice to meet you.” Brady smiled politely at her parents, but it looked forced.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Brady. Your grandparents speak fondly of you,” Graysen’s mother said with her signature smile. “And I don’t think you all have met Graysen yet, have you?” Ellen turned to look at her daughter. “Graysen, this is Mr. and Mrs. Heyward. We met them on the walk the other day.”

Graysen smiled politely and nodded as her mother said to them, “Graysen is our eldest daughter. She was resting from a migraine the other day during the hike.”

Carson was sitting on the other side of the table inhaling his breakfast, and stopped mid-mouthful to look up at Graysen and roll his eyes. He was suspicious about her absences for the past few days.

“Well dear, I hope you are feeling better.” Mrs. Heyward’s voice was tender, replete with grandmotherly concern. “It is just awful to get sick on vacation.”

“Yes, thank you Mrs. Heyward. I’m feeling much better this morning.” Graysen felt a pang of guilt about continuing to lie. The elder Heywards sat down at the table. Graysen stood to excuse herself when Brady made his way to her, and smiled, flashing very white teeth.

“I’m Brady. Do you mind if I sit next to you?” He leaned forward, his ear almost brushing her lips in order to hear her answer over the boisterous breakfast crowd.

She blinked a little at his nearness, and the startling color of his eyes: bright blue, as blue as the sky on a cloudless, sunny day. “Please do.” Graysen knew if she didn’t sit down with him at least for a few minutes she would have to answer more questions from Carson and hear a twenty-minute lecture on manners from her mother.

“Graysen, you have such a beautiful name.” Brady smiled.

She nodded and flashed Harper a distressed look, but she was too busy talking to her father to notice.

“Would you like some more coffee?” He gestured vaguely to a waitress.

“Thanks, but I’ve had enough caffeine for one day. I am just about to head back to our cabin.”

He smiled, undeterred, and scooted his chair closer to hers. Graysen noticed obliquely that his smile was not creepy. He seemed pleasant, even. His clothing told her that he was not at home on a ranch, much like her. He was wearing stiff jeans, probably bought just for this trip, a striped collared shirt that was tucked neatly into them, and a black leather belt to match his very new boots.

There was no doubt that Brady Heyward was handsome, a fact he was fully aware of. His sun-bleached hair varying in tones from wheat to honey was cropped just about the ear and neatly tamed except for a few wayward strands that fell across his brow. His chin was strong. He was quite tall, about her brother’s height. He was confident, she thought, and perhaps a bit arrogant. And his words, though carefully chosen, did not seem calculated. He was, perhaps, the kind of person who she could have imagined dating occasionally. The kind of man she would settle for, if she hadn’t met Colt.

Her mind was still drunk with thoughts of Colt and the passion they had shared last night. What did the Emily Post book on etiquette say about running off from entertaining guests to meet your secret lover? What was the appropriate amount of time to wait before she darted from the dining table?

Glancing up at the antler-festooned clock on the far wall of the dining area, Graysen spotted Colt speaking with Heck Edmiston. It was as though her mind had conjured him into reality. He stood near the entrance. He was wearing a thin green plaid shirt that hung open, revealing a gray tank top that strained against his broad chest and shoulders. There was a streak of what appeared to be dirt on his tank top and the sleeves of his snap front shirt were rolled up to the elbows. His jeans were faded and molded against that perfect butt of his. His belt was plain and not adorned with a belt buckle and his boots were scuffed. She had trouble keeping her eyes from traveling up and down the length of him repeatedly. His smile and tousled bedroom hair made her heart skid across her chest. He looked rough, hard, and utterly delicious.

Hypnotized by the desire that ticked away in her heart and pulsed through her body, it took her mother shouting her name to snap Graysen back to reality.

“Graysen!”

She hadn’t heard one word exchanged at their breakfast table. She stared down at her empty plate, trying to avoid eye contact with her mother.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” she asked, hoping no one had noticed her attention had drifted.

“Mrs. Heyward asked if you liked school, dear.” Her mother had a wary look on her face. Graysen looked to Mrs. Heyward, who had one eyebrow raised in curiosity. She tried to sound chipper. “Oh, well it’s great, ISU has an outstanding Master’s program, and I have this fantastic little apartment just off of ...”