April, Dani - Raven's Ranch (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme) (5 page)

“I respect your decision, Raven,” Connor told her, however, she could hear a
but
in his voice.

“Yes?” she asked.

“It’s just that I’m not sure I agree with you.”

“Why?”

“I won’t press the issue with you, Raven,” he told her. “But I think the guys would like to see that somebody’s getting some.”

“That’s a terrible way to think about it,” Raven said, and pushed into Connor with her hip against his as they headed down the gravel drive. “That’s not really how they think, is it?”

“Actually it is,” Connor said, putting his arm back around her shoulder. “The social dynamic has changed so much around here over the years that it’s become pretty hard for a guy living all the way out here to get a girlfriend. Naturally the guys miss it.”

“What you’re saying is the ranch hands are horny?”

“They are indeed.”

“So I’m the only woman on a ranch with five horny ranch hands?”

“That’s pretty much the situation,” Connor told her and then laughed. “Yes
, ma’am
,” he teased.

She gave him a playful punch and bit his shoulder. Even under his shirt he tasted good. “Stop teasing me!” she yelled, but also laughed with him.

“Those guys are my family, and now so are you, Raven.”

“I don’t know,” she said, as they stopped in front of his truck. “I’m in unfamiliar territory here, but don’t you think it might get tense out here with only one woman, namely me, and five guys who are just dying to get laid?”

“You’re right,” he admitted. “It will be deep, and you’ll have to make up your mind how you want to deal with it. I can tell you one thing. The guys are all going to love you, but they might love you more than you want them to at times, if you know what I mean.”

Raven took a deep swallow. She knew exactly what he meant.

“All I can do is take things one day at a time and see what happens,” she told him. “Maybe I should make the ultimate sacrifice for my ranch and sleep with you all.” Of course she was only joking.

“That’s not a bad idea.”

“You’re
not
serious,” she said, but really thought he might be. “You’re
not
serious, and neither am I.” She kissed him again and pushed away from him. “I still don’t think it’s a good idea if we sleep together right away. Just let me get the lay of the land first, and then we can decide what to do.”

“Yes,
ma’am
.”

“Come on, cowboy, let’s go meet my new family.”

“Anything you say,
boss
.”

She laughed and kissed him again.

Chapter Four

Three miles further down the gravel road, they drove up to the line of trailers strung together, set out in the middle of the open prairie. Raven’s trailer was in the middle, and two other smaller ones were parked up tightly to its side.

At first sight, the trailer yard didn’t look like much to Raven. The gravel road leading there was covered with weeds, and the yard itself was also infested with weeds. Did those damn weeds grow everywhere on this ranch?

The trailers looked small and cramped, and at least from the outside, did not look impressive.

Three of the other ranch hands were present and lined up, waiting to meet their new boss. From Connor’s description of them earlier, Raven easily recognized them. However, what he had not told her was that they were all gorgeous. Every one of them had some male quality that called out sexuality to her, and made her heart do flip-flops as if she had just discovered men for the first time.

“I’m really happy to finally meet you guys,” she told them, and realized that she was not lying.

She shook hands with the most aggressive of the group, Roy. He was a gritty, unshaven man, well over six feet tall, built tight all over his body, wearing a sexy, tight-fitting T-shirt, boots, and a hat. His blue eyes were so intense, they forced Raven to look away as they bored a hole through her. He was looking her up and down like she was a Christmas present come early, and though she might have been the new boss, he made no pretense of staring at her with uncovered lust in his eyes. This was the bad boy Connor had told her about, and Raven could see he was going to be trouble, maybe a good and fun kind of trouble, but very definitely trouble.

“You’re the cutest little ranch boss any cowboy ever dreamed of having,” he told her, his intense stare never once leaving her.

“Is that a compliment, Roy?” Raven asked.

“Turn around, darling, and let me get a look at your cute little butt,” he said, his stare roaming her body. “I am in lust, guys.”

“Do they have sexual harassment laws out here in the middle of nowhere, Roy?” She wasn’t exactly for sure if she should be serious or not because she couldn’t tell if he was. “Because if they do, I think you just gave me cause for a suit.”

Roy laughed, and when he did, his laughter was loud and deep. “I might have to end up suing you, baby,” he told her. “I am your employee after all, and I think you want me.”

Connor came over to break them up before they really got into it. “Don’t take this ornery ranch hand too seriously, Raven,” he said, giving her a reassuring pat on the back. “He’s an old hound dog, and his bark is definitely a lot worse than his bite.”

“Are we friends, Roy?” Raven asked him.

“Yeah, we’re friends,” Roy said, and seemed to mean it as a smile crossed his rough unshaven face.

Next in line was Bran, the giant from the pro wrestling circuit. Raven could not have missed him anywhere, nor could anyone else on the planet. He towered above her at almost seven feet in height and nearly three hundred pounds of pure muscle. It looked like he still worked out every day and his biceps were enormous, three times the size of the normal man’s. He was a bodybuilding muscleman who probably still could have won Mr. World contests if he had competed in them. His chest and his shoulders positively bulged out of his shirt, and his neck was like a tree trunk, it was so wide and strong.

“Were you ever on TV, Bran?” Raven looked up at the giant. “I might have seen one of your matches?”

“Possibly, but it would have been real late at night,” he answered her, in a deep baritone that almost shook the prairie when he spoke. “We weren’t exactly main event type of athletes.”

“I’d like to start working out. Perhaps you can help give me some pointers,” Raven said, feeling like she was a stick figure next to the giant.

“I’d like that,” Bran answered. “There’s a gym over in Masterson. I work out there once a week, and I’m in pretty good with the owner. I’d be happy to show you around and help you get started on a routine. If you don’t mind me saying so, your body looks just fine to me, tight in all the right places. I don’t know if you need to do anything to it.”

Raven blushed at his comment. “A girl always likes to look her best,” she told him, and hated herself for how he made her feel. She wanted to tear his clothes off him and see that wonderful body free of any impediment. She was an adult woman, she reminded herself. She was a businesswoman now and had responsibilities. This was not how she should be feeling.
But oh man
…

The young guy standing at the end of the line was Chip. Raven shook hands with him as Connor introduced them. He had an easy grip and nodded to her, his eyes emerald green, a strange contrast to his blond hair, which he wore short. He was tall and hard from working on the range like the others, but he had softness in those eyes that spoke of a different experience. His hairless skin was tanned and so very smooth, and his strong chin, high cheekbones, and strong brow gave him Hollywood good looks.

Raven found herself wondering what he was even doing out here on this ranch. He should be off somewhere making great art, reciting Shakespeare, or writing music. When she shook hands with him, he held her hand just a second too long, and his fingers grazed her wrist, caressing her skin with a quick touch that communicated a need for intimacy.

“It’s nice to meet you, Chip.”

“N–n–nice t–to m–meet you, Miss White.”

He had a bad stutter, and was painfully unsure of himself when he spoke. Well, he would never make it as a pop singer. As Raven thought about it, she realized he was probably nervous because she was female, and this fact brought out his stutter and his lack of self-confidence more than was usual. The poor kid probably hadn’t seen a woman since he started to work on the ranch, and according to Connor, that had been years ago when he was just a teenager.

“Please call me Raven,” she told him, and tried giving him a smile.

“Raven,” he said, and returned her smile, and it was the most beautiful smile she had ever seen.

“And don’t feel nervous around me,” she told him.

“That’ll be hard,” he said, and hesitated. “I mean because you’re so pretty…”

That made Raven feel good. Sometimes she didn’t think of herself as pretty at all. She felt like Chip was honest and not just trying to flatter her.

“I might be the owner and the boss of the ranch,” she said, taking his big hand back into hers, marveling at how long his fingers were as they ran across her palm, “but that’s just what some piece of paper says at the bank. What I really want is just to be one of you guys.”

“Thank you, Raven.” His voice was very certain this time, though he still had the lingering stutter. “I think you’re nice.”

“Thanks, Chip. I think you are nice, too.”

Raven turned back to Connor, who had been at her side for all of the introductions.

“Where’s Tyler?” she asked about her fifth ranch hand that seemed to be missing at the moment. “He’s the only one I knew from my past and now he’s not even here.”

“Tyler keeps to himself,” Connor told her. “It’s late. He’s probably already gone to sleep.”

“The sun hasn’t even set yet.”

“It’s late for Tyler. Don’t worry, you’ll see him tomorrow.”

Raven felt good about meeting her ranch hands and looked up at Connor and felt good about him too. When she saw him in the dim light of the setting sun on the prairie, she thought again about the L-word in association with her relationship with him.

Connor walked her to her trailer, and they got a moment of privacy from the others. She wanted to take him to bed with her so badly that night. She didn’t even care what the bed or the room looked like. She just wanted to make love to him, to move against him again and feel him hard and inside of her.

Somehow she knew that if she did, it would totally destroy any bond that she was starting to build with the others, and she knew as difficult as it might be, she would have to curb her lust for a while.

“You did great with them,” he told her. She could see he almost leaned in to kiss her, and she badly wanted to reach up and put her mouth over his. But the other ranch hands were still out in the yard, and the moment didn’t afford them any intimacy.

“I’m going to sleep alone tonight,” she told him. “Will you be okay?”

“I’ve spent my whole life sleeping alone. I reckon I’ll be all right by myself for another few nights,” Connor said, laughing with her.

“Good night, cowboy,” she whispered to him. “Oh, and by the way, I love my new family.”

That night, Raven was too tired to worry overly much about her sleeping accommodations at the ranch. Her trailer was larger than her studio apartment had been, and it was private. There was a large flat-screen TV inside and it got satellite service, as well as a stereo and a pair of pretty decent speakers, although she could find no CDs to play on the stereo, so apparently her grandfather had not been a music fan. Of course as she had expected there was no computer and no Internet. Her grandfather had not caught up with the twenty-first century.