IT WAS late, or early, depending on how you looked at it, but at one in the morning, Rand, his mother, Tyler, and I were all in the kitchen having sandwiches. All of us had showered and changed, and we were all in sweats and T-shirts, even May. I had made her sit while I prepared snacks and served everyone. As I was moving around the table, I told her that she should think about dating, since she was still hot. Tyler choked, and Rand nearly spit out his milk.
“Stefan Joss!” She laughed at me. “My goodness, but you do just speak your mind!”
“What?” I asked as I took a seat beside Rand.
“Are you insane?” Rand was incredulous. “My mother does not date!”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s my mother!”
I looked at Tyler, who had made a noise like he was dying.
“What he said.”
“That makes no sense,” I assured him, my eyes flicking back to May. “You should date.”
She took a deep breath. “Actually, I am.”
“What?” Rand gasped before he started coughing.
“That’s great.” I beamed at her. “Tell us all about him.”
“You’re what?” Rand barely got out, coughing harder.
“I think something went down the wrong hole.” May giggled.
Tyler thumped Rand on the back as I laughed at him.
“You’re such a prude, man. Your mother’s still young, and sex is a very natural part of any relationship that she would be in.”
He had to put his head between his knees.
May slapped my leg, trying for all the world to look serious. “You’re going to kill him.”
I shrugged. “You need to date and have sex and live your life. You just aren’t allowed to dress like Ben’s mother.” I shot her a look.
“Oh heavens, did you see that too?” Her eyes widened as she looked at me. “My goodness sakes, it was horrible! Do you think maybe Ben’s father is tomcattin’ around, so she’s trying to get his roving eye back on her?”
“Maybe,” I agreed. “That would make sense, wouldn’t it?”
“Can you two—Christ!” Rand yelled. “What the Cantwells do with—Mother, who the hell are you dating?”
She smiled at him. “Would you like to meet my beau?”
“Well, yeah.” He cleared his throat, scowling at me. “If you have a—well, yeah, I need to give my approval.”
I scoffed.
“You think I don’t?” He glared at me.
“No, I don’t.” I chuckled.
May pointed at me. “What he said.”
“You—”
“But I would love for you to meet him.” She grinned. “How about Monday night?” She looked back at me. “Why don’t you come too?”
“Oh.” I exhaled. “My meeting got moved from Monday to tomorrow, or today, since it’s already Sunday, so I’ll probably be on a plane home later today instead of Tuesday morning like I originally planned.”
“But you could stay until Tuesday,” Rand said, bumping my knee under the table. “You could if you wanted.”
My gaze hit his.
“Stef… you could.”
“I could.” I smiled at him.
“Then it’s settled.” He took a breath. “Stef and me’ll meet the beau.”
Her smile was luminous as she looked at me. “Thank you, darling.”
But I hadn’t done anything.
A half hour later, I was doing the dishes, still not tired, just content.
“This is so domestic of you,” Rand said as he walked up behind me, his lips finding a sensitive spot behind my ear that seemed to be suddenly and without warning connected to my cock.
“Oh God, what’re you doing?”
He moved his mouth to the back of my neck, one arm sliding across my abdomen, his other hand sliding down over my ass.
“Watch yourself,” I cautioned him. “They’re might see.”
His hand slid over my hip on a path toward my groin as he licked a line up the side of my neck.
“Stop.” I tried to bump him off me, but he tightened his grip as I felt his teeth on my shoulder.
His deep sigh made me smile. The man liked having me wriggling around in his arms. “You’re gonna get us in trouble,” I teased him.
“God, you smell good,” he said, his face in my hair, inhaling deeply.
“Stop,” I said, trying to see from where I was if Rand’s mom and uncle could see him groping me. From how the room was laid out and where I was standing next to the sink, I wasn’t sure.
“Your skin is so hot,” he said absently, cupping me through my jeans.
“Christ.” I jerked forward into the cabinet, banging the door.
“Ticklish?”
“Stop.”
“Rand,” May called over to him.
I felt his warm breath on the back of my neck, knew he had turned to look at his mother.
“Who’s Jenny marrying?”
“Some lawyer,” he responded, his hands moving on me, sliding up under my T-shirt, over my skin. “Can you hurry up with this?”
I nodded and took a breath, letting my head fall back on his shoulder, closing my eyes to keep my body in check. “Maybe if you left me alone, it would go faster.”
He chuckled before burying his face in my shoulder. “I don’t think I can… you feel too good,” he mumbled, gently biting his way down my shoulder.
My body went up in flames.
“What time we gotta be at your meetin’ in the morning?”
“Are you gonna go with me?”
“I plan to spend every second with you from now ’til you gotta go… or don’t gotta go.”
“What does that mean?”
His arms wrapped me up tightly, crushing me. “You want me to say—I’ll say… I want you to stay here with me, Stef. I want you to go home and pack up all your shit and move into my house and live with me. That’s what I want.”
I couldn’t breathe. He stepped back so I could turn around and look at him.
“That’s what I want, since you’re askin’,” he said, his hands on my face, lifting it so that as he stepped back into me, he tilted my chin up. “Stefan Joss, I want you.”
Staring up into his gorgeous eyes, I was glad that he had said my name and reminded me what it was. My mind had gone completely blank.
“Speak.”
“Rand, honey, I’m goin’ on to bed, and Tyler’s walkin’ back to his place! Night, Stef!”
They were both in the living room, and I hadn’t even realized they had left.
“Hey.”
The brilliant turquoise of his eyes, the laugh lines at the corners—just looking at the man made me happy, and apparently looking at me did the same for him.
“I will settle, if I have to, for you sayin’ that you’ll be back in a week after you fly away. I have a ranch to run, or I’d get on a plane and go to you, but I got things I can only do in one place. But it seems to me that you got yourself more options than you figured.”
He meant Mr. Cantwell.
“But you think on it,” he said, smiling at me. “Right now I need you to wash off your hands, leave them dishes, and go on upstairs and get in my bed.”
“But Rand, your mom—”
“Go on.”
I studied him.
“What are you tryin’ to see?”
“How can you just change your whole life in a couple of days?”
“’Cause I’ve had a whole lot of time to think on it.”
I nodded before turning back to the sink. “I gotta finish cleaning up, and you’ve got stuff to check on before bed, so I’ll meet you upstairs.”
After several minutes, I realized he was still standing there.
“What?”
He just shook his head and went out the back door.
It was peaceful being alone in the huge kitchen, wiping down the counters, putting pots and pans from earlier in the day away, and watering the herb garden growing in the windowsill. Everything was in its place, and all the lights except the one over the stove were off when I was finally pleased with how it looked.
Walking out of the kitchen and through the living room to the screen door, I stood silently looking out at the darkness, realizing that the sky was a deep cobalt blue, but with the full moon, I could still see everything, hear the sounds of the cattle, see the lights of the stockyards in the distance, and smell wet earth and wildflowers. It was peaceful, relaxing. There really was something to be said for life on a ranch.
When I heard Rand whistling, I knew he had the dogs with him. Since I’d seen Charlotte do it many times, I went to the chest that doubled as a coffee table in the living room and got out the blankets. In the winter, the dogs slept in front of the fireplace. In the summer, they slept in the same spot, just without the benefit of flickering flames. I heard them whimpering at the screen door, heard Rand telling them to hold on, and walked over and let them in. I was of great interest, and once I had greeted all four of them, patted them, and given them all love, I led them to the blankets. Trained well, they were all down, tails thumping, as Rand came in the house.
“Oh.” He was surprised, smiling at me. “You got ’em settled.”
“I filled up their water bowls in the kitchen,” I told him before heading for the stairs. “I know you still gotta lock the house up, so I’ll see you upstairs.”
“I’ll be right there,” he called after me.
“Yes, dear.”
“Hey.”
I looked over at him before I started up. The smile on his face was surprising. “What?”
“That just sounded real nice, is all. I think a man could get used to having you around to take care of him and his home.”
“Me?”
His smile made his eyes sparkle in the low light. “Yes, you.”
But I never wanted to take care of anyone. Simple things, small things that other people did, took for granted, I never even thought of. Men I had dated complained because I would make myself something to eat and not even offer. I was cold and uncaring because I didn’t run errands or cook or clean. I was the opposite of domestic; I normally ate standing up unless I was out to dinner, and I never lifted a finger in the home of anyone that I dated. Not ever, for any man, but three days of Rand Holloway’s attention and I was going soft. Shit.
“Stef.”
I looked back over at him.
“Go on up.”
In the upstairs bathroom, I washed my face, needing to clear my head, and heard Rand in his bedroom. Moving to the doorway, I looked for him in the darkness. The moonlight streaming in the window made him easy to see. Turned away from me, he was holding his left wrist in his right hand over his head, and without realizing it, he made me catch my breath. The man was a work of art, a study in power and strength. The rippling muscles in his shoulders and back, the smooth skin, the jeans riding low on his narrow hips… I was ready to fall down and worship him if he asked it of me.
“Rand.”
He dropped his arms, turning to look at me.
“You’re really beautiful, you know.”
The deep grunt made me smile. “Ain’t but one of us beautiful.” He gestured me close. “Now c’mere and lock the door behind you.”
When I was almost to the huge king-sized bed, he dived onto it.
“Rand, what’re—”
But my voice was cut off as he grabbed my wrist and yanked me down on top of him. I scrambled out of his grip and had him flat on his back a second later. The way he looked up at me, his eyes heavy-lidded, full of need, was very arousing. I leaned over and nibbled up the side of his neck, and the answering groan made it sound like he was going to die. When I moved to his mouth, he let out a deep sigh and wrapped his arms around my neck, holding me close. I kissed him long and languidly, taking my time because he seemed to need the closeness just as much as I did. When I felt his hands finally start to stray, clutching at my back, my ass, urging me to move, I did. I rose up off of him, and he was up instantly, yanking at his jeans, frantic to get everything off as quickly as possible. I had to smile because it was pretty heady stuff to know that I was the reason for his speed. He wanted me that badly. I laughed when he pounced on me, dumping me over onto my back before he stretched for something in the drawer in the nightstand.
“What’re you—”
I got a piece of paper from a clinic in Lubbock that said he was free and clear of any sexually transmitted diseases and a brand new bottle of lube.
“Aww.” I smiled up at the man who was grinning like an idiot, hovering over me. “Is this for me?”
The answer was a deep animal growl before he dropped down over me, pressing his body all along the length of mine.
“Rand,” I breathed into the side of his neck, my arms falling open on the bed.
“Say what you want,” he demanded.
“Oh God, Rand, please.”
His hands moved quickly over me. The lube was snatched away, and I heard the crinkling of cellophane as the bottle was opened. He lifted my legs roughly over his shoulders and bent me in half.
His breath caught. “Please, what?”
“Please, baby,” I almost whined, but I didn’t care how I sounded.
“Beg me,” he said slowly as one slippery finger slid between my cheeks.
“Please, Rand… I’ll do anything.”
“Anything,” he grunted before he leaned forward to kiss me.
I was surprised that he didn’t just impale me as he so obviously wanted to but kissed me first, apparently needing the closeness just as much. I opened my mouth for him, and his tongue drove inside so hard that his teeth bumped my lips painfully. The copper taste of blood had no effect on the bruising, grinding, devouring kiss. He didn’t stop until I moaned, like he was waiting for the sound. He was rough with me then, his fingers digging into my skin as he yanked me forward, thrusting to the hilt with one hard stroke. It felt so good, and I clutched at him, wanting him deeper, wanting it harder and faster. He complied with my demands even though I couldn’t speak more than the litany of his name.