Authors: Cheyenne McCray
Zane nearly growled. “Someone shot up Jessie’s car and damn near hit her.”
“Hunters?” Wyatt sounded serious as both men started walking back to the driver’s side.
“Could be.” Zane reached the open door and held his hand out to her. She forced herself to let go of the wheel, took a deep breath, and took his hand.
“Thing is, hunters might mistake a person for an animal, but not a red Mustang. It doesn’t make sense,” Wyatt said.
Zane looked at her palm and he made a sound through his teeth as he took her other hand, too. She looked at them and saw a little blood mixed with dirt from where she’d scraped them when she’d dropped to her hands and knees beside the car.
“I’m fine.” She brushed her hands on her shorts to get the dust off and saw the same thing had happened to her knees and she hadn’t even felt it when it happened. Now they stung, but not badly. “I guess I just hit kind of hard when I ducked behind the car.”
Zane helped her out of the car. “Could it have been hunters?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head as he closed the car door behind her. “I guess so. It just felt like I was being shot at. I don’t know who would want to shoot me, though.” She paused as a thought came to her. “Phoebe.”
“Phoebe?” Zane said, “You told me that she threatened you, but I just can’t see her going after you with a gun.”
Jessie frowned. “The way someone kept shooting at me and hit the car, it didn’t seem like errant shots.”
“It was probably hunters,” Zane said. “Or illegals running drugs.”
“They usually aren’t so blatant.” Wyatt said.
Zane didn’t respond and instead focused on Jessie. He took her face in his hands. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She nodded. “I just needed a moment to catch my breath.”
He lowered his head and kissed her hard as if to make sure she really was all right.
When he drew away she glanced at Wyatt who was watching them. If he was surprised that Zane had kissed her, he didn’t show it.
“Where did it happen, Jessie?” Wyatt asked.
She gestured to the road. “Not too far from that stock tank. The one you took me to when you talked to those hunters, Zane.”
Zane and Wyatt looked at each other. “Want to come with me?” Zane asked his brother.
Wyatt gave a single nod. “You bet.”
“Why don’t you go have a drink of water and relax?” Zane settled his hands on Jessie’s shoulders. “Maybe lie down.”
“Really.” She felt like a broken record then realized she really was feeling better. “I’m fine.” When Zane gave her a stern look, she managed a smile. “Okay, okay. I’ll go.”
“It’s that or I carry you over my shoulder and take you in,” he said.
She flashed him a grin. “That sounds like more fun.”
Wyatt laughed but Zane didn’t look amused. He was clearly still concerned and pissed about her getting shot at.
He kissed her again then put his arm around her shoulders and guided her to the front door. He opened it and when she stood in the doorway he said, “We’re going to go have a talk with the hunters. This shouldn’t take long.”
“Okay,” she said before he started to close the door and she pulled it shut behind her.
She closed her eyes for a moment and drew in a deep breath before heading to the kitchen for that drink of water but wishing she was getting something a little stronger waiting for her.
• • •
Zane’s jaws ached from clenching his teeth so tightly while he drove toward the area where Jessie said she’d been shot at. Wyatt followed in his own truck, eating Zane’s dust.
He didn’t find the hunters in that vicinity so he kept driving toward the Jones’ Mesa area. Further down the road, where he’d told them they could go, he found the hunters’ old red truck. It was parked in the shade of a couple of oaks.
He pulled his truck up alongside the vehicle and Wyatt parked beside him. When he got out of his truck, he shut the door with a solid
thunk
then met Wyatt by the hunters’ truck.
Wyatt put his hand on the vehicle’s hood. “It’s warm.”
Zane started walking. “Let’s find them.”
It took some time to find the hunters, but they eventually came up on them. The pair was taking a break and sitting on the edge of the mesa with binoculars focused on the bottom of a canyon. Joe was perched on a log and Bud on a big rock, their rifles propped up nearby.
Zane remembered that the men’s names were Joe and Bud. He had a hard time reining in his temper. For all he knew it could have been some other hunters on his land—only none had been spotted that he knew of.
Both men stood. “How are you doing?” Bud reached out and shook Zane’s hand and then Wyatt’s. “I’m Bud,” he said to Wyatt then gestured to his friend. “This here is Joe.”
Wyatt gave them each a nod and hooked his thumbs in his belt loops.
“You look all riled up about something,” Bud said as he studied Zane.
“You could say that.” Zane worked to keep his tone even. “Where have you been hunting today?”
“Just a little east of here.” Bud pointed in the opposite direction of where someone had been shooting at Jessie.
“Have you been near the road I saw you on?” Zane inclined his head toward that area.
Bud frowned and shook his head. “Early this morning before sunup, on the way in here, but since then not anywhere close to it.”
Joe had his hands in his back pockets as he looked from Zane to Wyatt and back. “What’s going on?”
“A woman was shot at just a ways down the road, just east of here.” Zane looked at the men as he spoke, looking for some clue in their expressions.
They both looked surprised and Joe frowned. “We’ve stayed near Jones’ Mesa like you told us,” Bud said. “Haven’t been anywhere near the area you’re talking about.”
“We did hear four to five shots,” Joe said.
“Is the woman all right?” Bud asked.
Wyatt pushed his hat up with his finger. “Just scared and her car was shot up.”
“Damn,” Joe said. “That would scare the shit out of me, too.”
Zane studied them. “Have you seen any other hunters around?”
Both men shook their heads. “No one since we’ve arrived,” Bud said.
“If you see anything, let me know.” Zane reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it and handed each one a business card with the ranch name and Bar C brand on it. “That’s my cell number.”
Bud gave a nod. “Sure thing.”
“Don’t like the idea of someone getting shot at.” Joe looked at Bud. “Dangerous to be around a bunch of careless idiots.”
“Sure it wasn’t something like drug runners?” Bud gestured toward the hills. “They come through these parts sometimes, don’t they? I’ve heard that they come across and hike the bottoms of the canyons under cover.”
“Not ruling out anything.” Zane touched his finger to his hat. “Thanks for your time, boys.”
“We’ll be sure to give you a call if we see anything,” Joe said.
When they were a good ways away, Wyatt spoke. “Do you believe them?”
Zane glanced at his brother. “Yeah. I do.”
Wyatt said as he walked beside Zane, “From the way they reacted, I thought that they were telling the truth, too.”
“If not them, then who?” Zane looked in the direction of the shooting.
Wyatt shook his head. ”Might have been drug runners or illegals who wanted her car, but it isn’t their profile to do something so blatant.”
“Whoever the hell it was,” Zane said. “I intend to find out.”
Chapter 11
Jessie settled into in the huge jetted tub in the master bathroom, the jets massaging her. She’d found some bubble bath in one of the other bathrooms and assumed it was Danica’s. She was pretty sure her friend wouldn’t mind her using it. The water felt warm and soothing, chasing away the events of the day.
Being shot at wasn’t on her list of exciting things that she wanted to experience and she would gladly put it behind her.
She relaxed, letting the warm water and the floral scent of the bubbles soothe her. She allowed thoughts of Zane to swirl through her mind. The way he’d looked when she met him; his grin when they were laughing after she tore her shirt; his intense, possessive expression when he made love to her; his protectiveness and his anger toward whoever had come close to hurting her.
It was too soon, and she shouldn’t be thinking this way…but it made her feel loved.
She was mostly under the bubbles, with only her head and toes sticking out, when Zane tracked her down and tingles erupted in her belly. Tension seemed to slip from his features when he saw her and he sat on the edge of the tub. She raised her hand, a dollop of bubbles on her palm and she blew them at him.
Laughter rose up in her like the bubbles now on his hair. He grinned and placed his palm on her head and pushed her underwater.
She sputtered as she came up. She giggled and scooped water in her hand and splashed him with it, wetting his face and shirt.
“This means war, honey.” He unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it aside as she grinned at him. She watched him as he stripped down to his briefs and then took them off. He climbed into the tub and she immediately splashed him.
He grasped her by her waist and kissed her, his callused hands rough against her skin, and he raised her up as he broke the kiss. Her mind seemed to spin as he leaned her back—and then he plunged her beneath the water.
When she came up she was coughing and spitting water and he was laughing. She socked him in his biceps but she was laughing, too. She hadn’t seen that coming.
“Stay put.” He took by her shoulders and turned her so that she was sitting between his thighs, her back to him. She felt his erection pressed up against her and it caused flutters in her belly.
He reached for the bottle of shampoo sitting on the edge of the huge tub. He poured some of the pearly white stuff on his hand then put it on her hair and started washing it.
“That feels wonderful.” She gave a sigh of pleasure as he lathered her hair and massaged her scalp. She closed her eyes and fell into the sensations of his wet body next to hers as washed her hair.
She opened her eyes as he turned on the water again and ran it until it was warm and then he positioned her so that he could rinse the shampoo out of her hair. It felt luxurious and sensual as he moved his hands, the warm water running over her scalp. She couldn’t help smiling as he raised her up to a sitting position when he finished rinsing her hair.
“I loved that,” she said before his lips moved to hers and he gave her a warm, wonderful kiss. His lips moved over hers and she moaned and returned his kiss.
“I’m not finished with you yet,” he said against her lips. He put a large dollop of bath gel on a cloth and started lathering her body with it. It felt incredibly erotic as he washed her shoulders and back before giving her breasts the same attention. She looked into his blue eyes as he washed them, then her eyes fluttered closed as he rolled her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. He lowered his head and licked each of her nipples and she felt an ache between her thighs.
He drew away and rinsed the soap from her body, gently splashing warm water over her. When he finished he pushed her hair behind her ears and smiled.
His large fingers slid around her wrists as he took them in one hand. She gasped as he drew her into his lap so that she was straddling him and she could feel his erection pressing against her, between her thighs. He grasped her by her hair and pulled her head back.
Her scalp stung but she loved the feel of it and his dominance as he took possession of her mouth with his. His kiss made her thoughts spin and her skin flushed with heat. She moaned against his lips as her breasts rubbed his chest while he kissed her. Their soap-slick skin made every sensation even more erotic.
His kiss was powerful, nearly overwhelming. She returned his kiss with just as much fervency and she rubbed herself along his erection, wanting to feel it inside her again. He pressed her up against the wall of the tub and he straddled her this time as he pinched and played with her nipples. Jets massaged her body as he held her there.
While he rubbed her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, she reached between their bodies and squeezed his balls before wrapping her hand around his cock. She moved her fingers up and down his length and he groaned.
He moved so that he was slightly elevated on a seat in the tub and she was on her knees in the water. Her scalp stung again as he dragged her by her hair toward him so that her mouth was over his cock. And then he pulled her down and pushed his cock into her mouth.
She hummed with pleasure as he moved her head up and down his erection. The way he took control was so hot that she squirmed with her own need. She looked up to see his intense expression as she sucked on him and his blue eyes were heavy-lidded as he watched her.
Zane looked at his beautiful woman as Jessie went down on him. Yes,
his
woman. He moved his fingers through her wet hair and rubbed her scalp as he watched his cock move in and out of her mouth.
When he’d decided that she belonged to him he wasn’t sure. Somewhere during the short time they’d known each other, he’d come to feel that she was a part of his life, a part that he wouldn’t let go of.
He reached down to pinch her nipples and she moaned as she sucked him. The vibration of her moan nearly had him climaxing and he clasped her head in his hands and forced her to stop for a moment so that he could regain control. She looked up at him, smiled around his cock, and he almost lost it anyway.
She started to suck him again and he tipped his head back and closed his eyes. The jets at his backside enhanced his pleasure. He had to hold, hold, hold, back his orgasm.
Clenching his jaw, he opened his eyes, grasped her head in his hands, and made her stop again. This time his cock slipped from her mouth as she rose up and settled on her haunches. With a mischievous but sexy look on her face, she reached out and cupped his balls, clearly enjoying his pained expression.
“You liked that, didn’t you,” he murmured as he drew her up into his arms. “You love sucking my cock.”