Royal Trouble (16 page)

Leigh Ann folded her arms under her breasts, which should have clued Roxanne in to back off, before she grated, "I was thinking my car broke down and I needed to figure out how the hell I was gonna get back to town.  Trace was nice enough to help me and offer me a ride."

"Did you look at that guy, Leigh Ann?  He looked rough, you should have never taken a ride from a stranger!  A biker no less!"

"He was nice, and he wasn't a biker when I met him, he was a cowboy," Leigh Ann protested, her shoulders getting tighter by the second.

"Where the hell is your car?" Roxanne asked her.

"It's broken down by the side of the road near the Diamond Bar ranch, or that's what the sign said.  Trace works there.  Do you know where that is?"

Recognition hit Wes in the gut and he interrupted gruffly, "I do."

It was a damned shady operation where he'd been out on a few farm calls.  They always made him treat the horses in the field, never allowed him into the barns, or other buildings on the property.  Someone always stayed with him too.  That person was usually armed, even though it wasn't conspicuous, Wes noticed.

Something wasn't right at that horse ranch, but Wes had no idea what it was.  He just felt it every time he went there.  Through the grapevine, he'd heard they were under federal investigation, but he didn't know why.  After his last call out there to treat a horse a few months ago, he decided he wouldn't go back, if the ranch manager called again.

The way that biker guy looked, Wes could imagine him working there.  That was the type of cowboys the ranch employed.  Rough and ready guys who didn't ask questions, guys who had nothing to lose.   A chill ran through him, because he realized that Leigh Ann was damned lucky she hadn't wound up dead...or worse.

Maybe Roxanne was right trying to drive that point home to her sister.  Evidently Leigh Ann was naive and didn't realize how close she'd come to disaster.  Wes felt like he should toss in his own warning to help Roxanne. 

As he cranked the truck, he said calmly, "Leigh Ann you need to have more sense, honey.  You're lucky we found you."

He quickly found out his warning didn't help anything, it just made Leigh Ann more defensive, when she volleyed, "And ya'll need to quit preaching to me.  Trace was a nice man, and he helped me.  Don't judge a book by its cover, he didn't do anything to me."

"I'm judging the facts, sweetheart.  There are things going on at that ranch that aren't on the up and up.  Stay away from him, and stay away from that ranch," Wes warned, as he jammed the truck into gear.

"As Rocky has reminded me many times, I'm a grown woman."  She cast a nasty look toward her sister, then lifted her chin and crossed her right leg over her left.  "I can do what I darned well please.  I'm tired of people telling me what I can and can't do."

Rocky turned in the seat toward her then folded her own arms over her chest.  "Yes you can, but that doesn't mean you should take chances like that."  The two women stared each other down, and silence descended in the truck.

Wes decided the best thing he could do in the situation was focus on driving.  After a few minutes, he pulled out his cell phone and called a tow truck.  He felt Leigh Ann's eyes burning a hole in the side of his face while he talked. 

When he hung up, she hissed, "I don't want a tow truck."

"How do you plan on getting your car back to the house then?" he asked shortly.  Wes was tired of the female dramatics going on in his truck, more than over them.  He wanted nothing more than peace, a shower and some food. 

"I don't plan on going back to your house," she replied in a sweet tone edged with steel.  "And if I wanted a tow truck, I could have called one!"

Wes huffed out a breath, his hands tightening on the wheel.  "Look, it's been a long day for all of us.  I want to go home, take a shower and get something to eat.  You're more than welcome to come with me."

"Thank you for the offer, but I don't think that's a good idea."  Anger practically vibrated in the air around the beautiful blonde beside him. 

"Leigh Ann you don't have a helluva lot of choice," Roxanne snapped with a frustrated sigh.  Roxanne Baker was evidently done with her sister's belligerence too.  If he didn't want World War Three to start in the cab of his truck though, Wes knew he needed to defuse the situation fast.

"I owe you money, Leigh Ann, and I want to pay you for the hours you worked at the office," he reasoned then added, "Roxanne has to work at the ranch tomorrow, so she needs to go home.  Just stay tonight.  Tomorrow after you sleep, you'll feel better, we'll talk.  If you want to leave after we talk, I'll take you.  Even if you still want to go to Dallas."

"I can stand on my own two feet, Dr. Jepson."

Dr. Jepson
? He almost snorted.  Roxanne did snort, and folded her arms over her chest to say, "Don't get shitty with Wes, he's doing me a favor, Leigh Ann."

"A
favor
?" the woman beside him shrieked, and Wes groaned, because he knew the battle was on again.  Wes shoved his foot down on the accelerator, the truck jerked forward, and both women shut up, unfolded their arms to brace on the seat.  Instead of landing on the seat though, Leigh Ann's left hand found his upper thigh and she gripped it tight.  The side of her hand brushed his dick and her fingers dug into the inside of his thigh very near his balls.  Wes gritted his teeth as his dick went rock hard.

Fighting the instinct to drag her hand over his crotch and press it there, so she could feel what the hell she was doing to him, Wes reached one hand down to cover hers and remove it from his leg.  What he really wanted to do was to have the honeysuckle-scented women beside him once and for all, so he could put out the fire she had started in his pants when she waltzed into his life unexpectedly.  One time.  Just once. 

Maybe then he could get his mind back.

But Leigh Ann Baker wasn't a one-night-stand kind of woman, and he had a feeling that once would just make him want more.  She was the kind a man fell in love with, became addicted to, begged to stay with him when she went out looking for greener pastures.  Just like Laura.  He didn't want a relationship with a woman like her, but damned if he didn't want to fuck her so bad his eyes watered thinking about it. 

The fact that she had found greener pastures with biker boy only hours after leaving his house drove that point home to him.  If they hadn't found her at that gas station, Wes felt sure she'd have been doing some grazing with that biker right now.  The thought sent anger shooting through him.

"Sorry," she mumbled when he released her hand, then refolded her arms over her chest to stare out the windshield. 

Wes gritted his teeth and fought to get his body under control.  If he had just had sex with Martha the other night when he had the chance, instead of worrying about the woman sitting beside him, Wes wouldn't still have this problem. 

He would be a satisfied man, probably good for another year or so, instead of laying awake at night thinking about Leigh Ann Baker.  Or jerking off in the shower thinking about Leigh Ann Baker.  Or drifting off into a fantasy in the middle of the day thinking about her, instead of concentrating on his damned work. 

Bullshit.  You're kidding yourself man.

He'd had a perpetual hard-on since he'd met the woman, and he knew there was only one way he was going to find permanent relief was with the woman fueling those fantasies.

Wes stewed over that fact for the thirty minutes it took to get back to his house.  He was glad the women had called a cease fire on their arguing during the remainder of the drive.  By the time he pulled into his driveway, he was so agitated he didn't think he could take much more.  For a man who hadn't had a woman in his life for seven years, he had two now who were definitely making up for lost time.

Pulling up in front of his office so Rocky could get her truck, Wes kept the engine running while she got out of the truck.  "Night, Rox, I'll talk to you tomorrow," he grumbled, but she didn't reply.  She cast her sister a final look then slammed the truck door and stomped toward her truck.

"I wish she'd realize I'm a grown woman now.  She's almost worse than my mother sometimes," Leigh Ann said with a sigh.

"She loves you and was worried," Wes defended.

As if Leigh Ann didn't know that.  But it still aggravated her now that she had made the decision her sister had been pushing her to make for four years.  To take control of her own life.  Her sister wasn't letting her do that anymore than her mother had done. 

"She needs to have more faith in me," Leigh Ann replied.  Everyone in her life needed to have more faith.  Of course she realized to date she hadn't inspired much faith in them that she could take care of herself, but that was going to change.  She was going to change.  Meek and mild Leigh Ann was gone, go-with-the-flow-to-keep-the-peace Leigh Ann was history too.

She had taken a ride on the wild side now. 

Who would have thought a motorcycle ride with an ex-con cowboy would have opened her eyes so wide to how dull her life was before now.  How passively pathetic she had been.  Now that she'd tasted the wildness she was capable of, Leigh Ann was charged up, energized, practically buzzing like a lighting-filled storm cloud.  Of course that could be from the vibrations of the throaty engine of the motorcycle between her legs during her wild ride with Trace Rooks.  She now knew why women loved motorcycles, and the bad ass biker dudes who drove them.  Leigh Ann was more turned on than she'd ever been in her life.  She squeezed her thighs together, and smiled.

Wes pulled the truck up in front of the house, then helped her out of the driver's side with his hands at her waist.  He sat her down quickly to shut the door, then turned and took one step toward the house.  Leigh Ann stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, and purpose filled her as she stepped in front of him to put her hand on his chest and push him back toward the truck.

In her new lease on life, Leigh Ann's first order of business was to let this man know exactly what she wanted from him.  To put out the fire that the sexy vet had started with his hot kiss at the restaurant.  A man couldn't kiss a woman like that and leave her hanging, tell her hands off.  It just wasn't right, and it was time for Wes Jepson to know that. 

Leigh Ann put both hands on his solid chest and shoved him again.  Wes staggered back against the side of the truck. Taking a step forward, she grabbed his shirt collar in her fists and twisted, yanking his lips down toward hers.  Pushing up on her toes, Leigh Ann claimed his mouth.  When he stood stock still, but didn't respond, she pressed her lips harder to his, encouraging him, coaxing a response. 

Finally his hands moved to her hips, and with a groan Wes jerked her against his body to take control of the out-of-control kiss.  Leigh Ann released his collar and smoothed her hands up his shoulders to circle his neck and pull him closer. 

She opened her mouth and his tongue rasped against hers, before he sealed his lips to hers and pressed her tighter against his hard body.  Desire shot through her and gathered between her thighs.  His fingers dug deeper into her hips, as he devoured her mouth.  Her nipples brushed his chest and hardened.  Tiptoeing to press closer to him, Leigh Ann spread her legs and circled her hips against the steely outline of his erection, trying to ease the ache the hot kiss was creating inside of her.

His fingers crawled down her body to the hem of her skirt, then his hot fingertips met her skin and stood in stark contrast to the cool night air, making them hotter on her skin.  His palms closed over the globes of her ass, and his fingers tightened as he kneaded her, as he took the kiss to a new level of sexy, dragging a  moan from Leigh Ann. 

God, this man knew how to kiss, she thought as she shoved her fingers into the short hair at his nape.  Wes growled then reversed their position and lifted her, before shoving her hard against the side of the truck to fit his rock hard erection at the V of her thighs.  Leaning into her, he thrust his hips against her, while deepening the kiss. Clamping her legs around his waist, Leigh Ann shifted downward for better contact, moving her hips in tandem with his, reaching for the blinding orgasm that was fast approaching.

Wes released her hips to shove his hands under her tank top and cup her breasts, while he continued to kiss her hard, rotating his hips against her.  He flicked his thumbs over her engorged nipples and Leigh Ann moaned low in her throat falling over the cliff she'd been teetering on for a week.  Tremors shook her, her muscles seized and Leigh Ann dragged her mouth from his to throw her head back and embrace the heady flow of pleasure that crashed over her.

Wes made a rough sound, almost animalistic, then stepped back from her.  Her feet hit the ground, and her weak knees almost sent her to the ground.  Crashing back to reality, her body still buzzing from the incredible orgasm, Leigh Ann grabbed the truck for support and looked up at him.  One look at Wes's tense body, clenched fists and face told her he wasn't turned on, he was pissed. 

"That do it for you,
princess
?" he asked gruffly, his chest heaving.  He swallowed hard then spat, "Don't use me to put out a fire that another man started, Leigh Ann.  I don't finish other men's business."

Wes spun angrily and stalked toward the front porch, leaving her standing there with her mouth open.  Old Leigh Ann would have stood there embarrassed, run for the woods to hide, slept out there all night to avoid him and lick her wounds.  Wild Leigh Ann wasn't taking that without a fight, this man needed to know that.  Channeling the emotions pouring through her into a anger, she pushed off of the truck and stiffened her spine.

"Hold on right there, asshole!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, surprised at the empowering feel of the curse word on her still tingling lips.  Stomping toward the porch, where he stood with his back to her, Leigh Ann cut her anger loose.  "If I had wanted to put out a fire with Trace Rooks, I would have. 
You
started this fire by kissing me at that restaurant.  Now, it's about damned time you took care of
your
business!"