Confident in Chaps (Crossroads Book 2) Read online

  His eyes flashed. “I’ll give you more, sweet thing.” In a flick, he had her jeans open. In one jerk, he yanked them down to her ankles. After pushing her thighs apart, he dabbed pie on her clit and then sucked it clean.

  Her ass rose off the table, and she yanked his head down where she wanted him. With a moan, he pulled on her clit until it felt hard as a pearl. She shook, her insides gripping and releasing with pending release. Passion flared to life for the man delivering all the pleasure she could ever want.

  Slowly, he raised his head and looked into her eyes—past her soul and into some remote place inside herself only Kaoz could see. It had made her fall in love with him from the beginning, and she fell even deeper.

  He painted more caramel apple on her clit. She rasped a burning plea.

  “What was that, sweet thing? You want me to eat this delicious apple pie pussy of yours?”

  “Yes! Kaoz!”

  “I never stopped loving you. Do you know that now? You’re all I ever wanted and still do.” He wouldn’t lower his head and ease her insistent throb of need, but waited for her answer.

  “Please, Kaoz.”

  “I love you, woman. Know that if you know nothing else about this world.” He ducked his head, opened his mouth over her pussy and blew her mind.

  * * * * *

  This moment was coming late, but at least it was coming—or she was. With each pulsation, she issued another whimper until a final cry escaped her plump lips. He continued to love her with slow laps of his tongue up and down her drenched seam, around her bud and back again. She tensed and gave a final shudder.

  He didn’t give her a second to change her mind. He quickly swiped his finger through the apple pie again and stuck it into her mouth. When she sucked on his digit, his eyelids slipped closed. Her soft lips enveloping him reminded him of all those moments she pleasured him with her mouth.

  Pulling off his finger, she stared up at him with eyes burning. “My turn.”

  He shook his head. “It’s been too long since I’ve been inside you—I’ll never last.” As he spoke, he jerked open his belt and fly. She sat up enough to watch him draw his thick erection from a pair of his boxers he’d retrieved from the yard.

  She stared at his purple-tipped arousal. “Oh God,” she whispered.

  Grinning, he stroked it very slowly, squeezing a bead of precum from the slit. “Still on the pill, sweet thing?”

  “Yes, but—”

  No buts. He yanked her to the edge of the table and gathered her close. Together, they removed her jeans and boots and let them drop.

  With his lips a breath from hers, he rasped out, “I’ve been nothing but faithful to you.”

  She gave a slow nod and then tipped her head up for his kiss. He obliged, cradling her head in one hand and nibbling at her in tender little bites in the way that drove her crazy. She shivered against him, her hands underneath the hem of his shirt and working over his spine.

  He leaned away enough to allow her to remove his shirt. Then she went for his jeans, sliding them down his hips. They crumpled to his ankles, and his cock stood straight out, arrowing toward her tight, wet heat.

  When she stuck a glob of apple pie in his mouth, he laughed around it, feeling joy for the first time since receiving her call that she wasn’t happy anymore. Leaning in, he shared the flavors of the filling with her as he guided his cock to her core.

  The table rocked on its four legs as he entered her in one slick shove. The weight of her head falling into his hand undid him. Passion and love for Brielle overflowed his heart.

  “I missed you so damn much,” he grated out, and kissed her. Their tongues dueled and he felt her body tremoring as it did when she lingered on the cusp of another release. Her thighs squeezed his hips on each plunge and tried to hold him inside her on the withdrawal. His balls tightened, the ache unbearable and soooo damn good.

  As he swung his hips forward, he grunted. His cock held so snug within her warm walls and her eyes glowing up at him before he claimed her lips once more.

  No woman looked at a man that way unless she was in love—and he never doubted it for a minute. He’d never let up until she walked down that aisle and joined hands with him.

  “Kaoz!” She clutched his hip, urging him faster. The sound of their bodies meeting filled the kitchen…and damn if he didn’t let go too soon. A spurt of cum boiled up and shot into her pussy. She moaned as her body responded to his release.

  He captured her lips and churned his hips, giving her his orgasm as her own slammed her too. They rode the waves together, bodies moving in that rhythm he’d awakened from his dreams in New Mexico.

  Curling his fingers into her hair, he drew on her lips and tongue until he felt her go boneless in his hold.

  Drawing her against his chest, he buried his nose in her fragrant hair. “I love me some apple pie,” he drawled out.

  She shook with a giggle.

  He eased away to see the smile he put on her face. When he saw the bow of her lips and the glimmer in her eyes, he fell even deeper in love with the woman.

  He dropped a soft kiss between her brows and then her cheek and finally claimed her lips again.

  Chapter Five

  It’d been a while since Brielle took off through the Georgia countryside in search of a view. Since sixteen, she had been chasing sunsets and the best possible vantage points. She also learned that she needed these quiet moments to organize her thoughts, and if ever there was a time she needed to do that, it was now.

  Kaoz had stirred her up good. Not only had he fed her, stripped her and fucked her into a frenzy, he had burrowed deep into her heart again.

  She didn’t know what to think of that. Had she made a mistake in calling it quits? Or had she fallen into a bad habit that would only end in disaster?

  Either way, she felt glad to be away from the ranch, her brother and especially Kaoz. She had plans to meet the girls for drinks later on, but finding a terrific view to sit on the hood of her car and think felt like a better escape than margaritas.

  Crossroads boasted a few vantage points looking out over fields, the small town or even the river. But instead of heading to any of these, she hit a back road in search of something new.

  As she drove, her mind wandered. While she didn’t want to admit it to Kaoz, he really had provided the extra help the ranch needed. They needed to buy more time before receiving the horses for boarding. Having Kaoz on her side, they’d eventually convince Beau, right?

  They were down to the wire. Early this morning, she made another attempt to talk to Beau again, but he told her he was too busy and walked off.

  In this case, busy translated into stubborn, pure and simple. The man was about to get a big fat smack of a wakeup call square in the forehead, once those horses stepped onto their property.

  Looking to the horizon, she took another remote road to the left and then another left. Sooner or later, this road would lead to one of those logging roads she technically shouldn’t be trespassing on, but the chances of passing a human were slim. The sun had begun to sink behind the land, leaving rays of pink, peach and lavender along with some wispy clouds. In the distance, the moon had already come up, a small sliver of a sharp crescent hanging in the sky like a pendant on a necklace.

  She drank in everything and for some reason thought about Kaoz’s bonfires. The man loved to make massive fires that a girl couldn’t even stand close enough to roast a marshmallow on. In the past, he gathered wood for weeks, picking up sticks and fallen branches. Behind his house they’d shared, he’d cut up a dead tree, heaped on some broken furniture found in the garage and pretty soon the pile had grown enormous. When he lit that thing up, people saw it for miles and came to see if they needed rescued. But in the end, it had become a party, with a keg being tapped and s’mores for all.

  Thinking on it now warmed her insides. She missed that part of being with Kaoz. Ordinary things made more special simply because he took part in it.

  Chewing
her lip now, she took another fork in the road with no idea where it led. She’d find out when she got there.

  How had it all happened? She let him seduce her on the kitchen table—and loved every minute of it.

  And she was still hopelessly in love with him.

  She braked as she saw the road splitting off and a wide opening farther away. She peeked out through a space in the trees and saw what she’d been searching for tonight—a gorgeous view.

  With a little bubble of excitement inside her, she cut the engine and climbed out of her car. Picking her way through the downed brush from the logging operation took a little bit of concentration, but once she reached the opening, it all became worth it.

  Brielle stood looking at the sunset in a sky that looked so close she could reach out and touch the fingers of light shooting upward. Or snag the moon from its hanging place. She drew in a deep breath of the crisp Crossroads air and allowed her thoughts to scatter to the breeze. Whatever happened, she would be okay. The ranch would do well or not. Kaoz would remain in her life or she’d go her own way once more. But in the end, she knew she was strong enough to seek out the best life for herself. Nobody would decide for her.

  She sank to a tree stump and stared at the view, letting her worries and cares fade along with the daylight.

  * * * * *

  “Beau. You know where Brielle’s at? Her car’s gone.”

  The man looked up from the ledger book he wrote in. A stack of receipts sat at his elbow. “She went out with friends. Said somethin’ about looking for a view first.”

  Dammit. She’d gone without Kaoz—and just when he thought for sure he’d won his way back into her heart. After carrying her off to bed—and giving her two more gasping, sheet-gripping orgasms—she’d slept. When she awoke, he made sure to leave her breakfast tray with sausage, eggs and toast.

  This morning he hadn’t seen much of her, being too busy asking his Uncle Cort to borrow his workers an afternoon or two for help on the barn. And then he and Beau located a small backhoe to rent in order to do the work themselves.

  Beau returned to entering his receipts into the book, and Kaoz stood there a moment, marveling at the old-fashioned system. The man really lived and breathed the old ways, didn’t he?

  “Hey, I’ll take a look at those mineral rights if you have them on hand,” Kaoz said.

  He glanced up again, pencil poised over the paper. “Yeah, I’ll dig those out in a while. I don’t remember where I filed them exactly.”

  “Would Brielle know?”

  “My grandpa always took care of the ranch paperwork, and I do too.”

  Kaoz came close to rolling his eyes. Her brother was such an odd duck—always had been. People couldn’t choose their family members, and Kaoz didn’t hold Brielle against her brother to compare. She had more common sense in her little toe than this guy did in all that gray matter between his ears.

  “All right. I’ll have a look later then.” Kaoz started out of the office, and Beau called him back.

  “Hope ya don’t mind I ate the leftover cold pizza in the fridge. There’s some frozen dinners if you want somethin’ to eat.”

  So much for the three squares a day being part of the agreement—not that Kaoz gave a damn. He could get his own food.

  “I’ll grab something, thanks.” As he walked out of the house, he automatically scoured the bushes for sight of his missing socks. He didn’t see any, but a few twigs had fallen in the yard, and he carried them to the rest he’d gathered for a fire. Then he continued walking, finding busted fence posts too short to be of use and a few more branches along the property border. He added all this to the fire and considered lighting a match.

  That old dry wood would go up in flames in minutes. But Brielle always favored the big fires he built. When he next visited town, he’d be sure to pick up some fixin’s for s’mores at Meyers Supermarket.

  His stomach growled, reminding him that there wasn’t anything for him to eat but a frozen dinner. Probably meatloaf too. He wrinkled his nose.

  After striding across the yard to his truck, he made the choice to head into town. The old stomping ground appeared busy on a Friday night, with people driving and old Mr. Robin’s Studebaker parked near the town square, like always. The nice old guy was known for tossing crumbs to any bird that landed within ten feet of him.

  When he rolled past Meyers Supermarket, with the red and white flag banners flapping in the breeze, he spotted one of the big white trucks painted with BELLAMY RANCH on the side and skidded to a stop. He whipped into the parking lot and saw Cort and their other cousin Aidan climbing out of the Bellamy Ranch truck.

  Doors slammed, and then Cort looked up. A big grin plastered over his face when he spotted Kaoz coming toward them. Holding his arms out to his sides, Kaoz returned the grin.

  “Cousins!”

  Aidan moved in to thump him on the spine. “Man, you look wooly. You better stop in at Dick’s Barber Shop for a trim.” He yanked a lock of hair sticking out from under Kaoz’s cowboy hat.

  He chuckled. “I’ll be sure to do that. What are you two doin’ out on the town tonight?”

  “Grabbing some fried chicken if it ain’t all sold out. Beer too. We’re headed to the Bellamy.”

  “Got a party goin’ on there tonight?” he asked Cort.

  “Nah, only the hands, Joss and the two of us. You alone?” Cort looked behind him as if expecting to see Brielle.

  Kaoz’s stomach twisted. This morning he felt confident things were back to normal between him and Brielle. Now not so much.

  “I’m on my own. If you got room for company, I’ll throw in some cash for the chicken and beer.”

  “You’re on.” Cort nodded.

  The three of them strode across the parking lot to the store. Kaoz tipped his hat to a few people he knew but didn’t stop to talk. When a group of older ladies paused to stare at the three of them, he couldn’t help but smile.

  “They must remember us from the days when we started trouble.” He looked to his cousins.

  “Trouble? I never started any trouble. It was always you two,” Aidan said.

  Cort and Kaoz exchanged looks. “Yeah, it mighta been us,” Kaoz drawled out, and the others laughed all the way to the rear of the store where the deli and the beer case were located.

  “How many hands you got on the Bellamy now, Cort?” he asked as they gathered 6-packs into his arms.

  “Five including me. Got a couple young’uns trained pretty good now. I hardly need to give them direction.”

  Kaoz scratched his jaw. The Bellamy Ranch operated like a slick, well-oiled machine, while Beau’s place continued to be a confusing mess. No matter what he had to say, Beau didn’t take much direction or advice.

  They checked out their goodies and Kaoz followed his cousins to the Bellamy. After they found the others seated around the rear of the bunkhouse where the fire already burned, he couldn’t help but think this was more along the lines of what he wanted his own ranch to be like someday.

  They all settled on various lawn chairs or wooden benches, and Joss appeared with a smile for Cort. He slipped his arms around her, and Kaoz saw her hug him in return.

  Damn.

  With a jolt, he realized he hadn’t gotten as far with Brielle as he originally thought. Sex wasn’t intimacy. They’d taken so many steps backward—and he could only blame himself.

  “Where ya been stayin’, Kaoz?” Aidan asked. “Still at the house?”

  “I’m helpin’ out Beau Randall on the ranch.”

  “Beau? Brielle’s brother?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You’re stayin’ there too?”

  Time to come clean with his family. Any workers of the Bellamy he considered family as well as his cousins.

  “Brielle moved out.”

  Cort’s brows shot up, and Joss went still, her eyes reflecting the flames of the fire as well as a heavy-duty dose of sympathy.

  He sighed and rubbed at his jaw. “Of cour
se, I won’t let her go without a fight. So I moved onto Beau’s ranch to be closer to her. Work things out.”

  Silence descended on the group, with only the crackle of the fire for a long minute. Kaoz lifted his beer to his lips and sipped.

  “That’s rough, man. If you need anything…” Cort let the offer trail off.

  Kaoz cleared his throat. “Actually, I do. I talked to Uncle Cort already. He might have mentioned I could use y’all to help us out.” He looked from his cousins’ faces to those of the ranch hands—Theo and Cole were the greenhorns, and Sherman, Spike and Max had been there a lot longer.

  They waited for more.

  Kaoz straightened in the lawn chair. “We need to raise a barn.”

  “How soon?”

  “Fast. Fast as you can. And I’d like to borrow a tractor if you can spare it a day—for cuttin’ the hay.” He directed his request to Cort, who’d been operating the ranch for a while now.

  “Yeah, man, you got it. Anything. In fact, we can spare Theo and Cole both to help with putting up the hay, and then we can get started on the barn whenever you give the shout out. We’ll do it in shifts.” Cort looked to his team of men for affirmation, and they all bobbed their heads at the decision.

  Kaoz’s heart welled with affection for his kin. He and Cort’d been like brothers all their lives. They saw a bit less of Aidan, but only because he was a full ten years older and they didn’t pal around with him until recently. Today, Kaoz learned his family always had his back.

  “’Preciate it, guys.” His voice came out gruff, and he swigged his beer.

  “Beau bought the old Nicholls place, didn’t he?” Aidan spoke up.

  “That’s right.”

  “Thought there was a barn on that already.” He tossed a wrapper into the flames, and it incinerated.

  “No, remember, it burned down a few years ago. Before Nicholls and his wife decided the cattle were too much for them,” Cort put in.

  “That’s the way of it. We have no barn and horses being delivered by week’s end.”