Billi Jean (23 page)

“Ah, they’re knocking… It’s Eagle, I recognised his truck,” he added, because maybe she didn’t want him answering her door to someone else. Why not, he wasn’t certain, but this situation was something altogether new to him. Like a ‘new species’ kinda new.

Russell tugged on a T-shirt and kept an eye on the door. She opened it after he heard the toilet flush and water running. Someone was politely knocking on the front door. His phone went off.

Blue eyes met his with a clear challenge. Arms crossed adorably under her breasts, she looked the picture of pissed off woman.

“Don’t ever do that again. I don’t appreciate people telling me what to do, and no one makes decisions for me.”

He had to give her credit, she made sure she spoke slowly and clearly. Her fingers were tapping on her other arm, and she waited, but he didn’t say a word. This was too… damn, it was too funny, but he didn’t crack even a smile. He had his poker face on. Ten years plus in the service with the world’s most badass and goofiest guys, and he could keep a straight face under fire. And he was under fire now.

“Russell, I think you might want to respond to that.”

“Ah, right, baby. I won’t do that again.” Unless she tried to go to the door naked again.

“Not even if I’m in my birthday suit, Russell. Say it.”

He stood up a bit straighter. There was no way he was lying to her like that.

“I won’t throw you over my shoulder if you try to answer the door half naked.”
But I will stop you.
It was unspoken, and he’d be damned if he’d
not
stop her.

She met his eyes firmly, and he knew she could read his look. She was challenging him. And he wasn’t backing down on this. Or the chainsaw. Or the axe. Or the U-Haul.

“Right. So maybe answer the phone or door. I have muffins in the oven.” He got a look that said
he
might not be getting any muffins or anything else, but no way was he backing down on this. She was still half naked. She grabbed a sweatshirt on her way out of the door and he exhaled a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. His balls dropped back down from where they’d been hiding.
Right, then.

He snapped his phone open. “Hey, Eagle. What’s up?”

“Hey, to you, too. I brought Katya with me. We want to meet the little lady.”

“Hell, no. Leave,” he told him, then paused as he walked in the living room to see Susan had the door open and was already smiling at Katya. Eagle gave him the eye over Katya’s redhead and grinned, clipping his phone closed and winking.

“I’m glad your hand is fine. I was with Russell when he found out you were hurt,” he heard Susan say. Katya gave him a look like she’d never seen him before. No one called him Russell. Katya called him Ace. Most did.

Eagle was grinning behind her.

“Oh!,” Susan exclaimed, turning and hurrying into the kitchen. “The muffins… Come in, come in, you’re just in time for breakfast. We have some coffee. Russell…coffee, right?”

He gave Eagle a dark look, but Katya hit him in the stomach when she waltzed through the living room.

“What was that for?” he asked her. Katya was a spitfire for certain. Five feet three, red hair, bright green eyes and a temper. She was a good woman for Eagle. Maybe a bit too free with her fists, but she fit Eagle.

“You haven’t invited us over, and now you barely answer the door,” Katya told him, taking a seat at the table after smiling warmly at Susan.

“Well, it isn’t like I’ve been here that long,” he replied under his breath, marching off to mess duty. Coffee. Right.

“This place is beautiful, Susan. So light and airy. I saw it before. Your designers did a great job. Remember how dark it was before, Tim? Small and dark, but this opens it up. The floor plan really makes a difference.”

Susan tucked her hair back and glanced somewhat shyly at Katya. Katya was enough to intimidate him, let alone his little Sunshine. If Susan was a breeze of fresh air, Katya could be classified as a hurricane. He quirked a brow at Susan’s flushed face and obvious shyness. She gave him a frown again before turning back to Katya.

“Thank you. The movers did a great job,” she said, opening the oven to a delicious smell before she pulled out some huge, blueberry-scented muffins from the oven and set them down, then made herself busy getting out plates and forks.

“Here, let me get those.” Russell elbowed her out of the way and she shot him a narrow-eyed look, then turned with a happy smile to Katya and Eagle.
So, still in the dog house, huh?

“You’ll eat something, won’t you?” she asked, barely giving them the time to protest before she set the plates out. “No, don’t be silly, there’s plenty. I have some cream—do you take it? Sugar is there on the table. Let me get the butter…”

“This is great, really, but we stopped by on the way from the feed store, Susan, please…” Katya began, but Eagle shushed her by tugging her chair closer to his.

“Now, babe, if she cooked…” Eagle grinned.

He was such a moocher. Those were Russell’s eggs—his muffins, too. He’d got in the door, in her bed, and he didn’t want to share her for a second. He wanted to claim Susan, leave his truck out front, parade her around, but not share her.

“Dig in.” Susan made to sit across from him, but he grabbed her and pulled her down by her hand next to him. She was lucky he didn’t plunk her little ass on his knee, but he’d not been in the service for most of his life without learning to spot danger signs. He knew a threat when it gave him a blue-eyed glare and sat with a smile. A forced,
I will get you later
smile, but he wasn’t easily scared. Besides, he was the Ace. He had this in hand.

“You still got one more pup?” he asked Eagle.

Susan’s hand squeezed his, and she made a soft ‘oh’ sound. Very much like when he’d made her orgasm that last time. He tried not to grin at her, at least not too smugly, when her eyes darted from him to Eagle and back again. “You still wanted one, right?”

“Oh, yes, very much. Can we see her?” She was ready to get up, but Eagle laughed and shook his head.

“Settle down. She’s all yours. Why doesn’t Ace bring you by? She’s only a few weeks old. Smallest of the bunch, but they’re always the best. The runts.” Tim grinned down at Katya’s quick fist to his abs.

“Oh, how cute! I always like the littlest ones. But I don’t have a thing for a puppy.”

“Not a problem; we’ve got that covered, I picked up a few things at Dave’s store,” Katya said.

Susan blinked and looked uncomfortable, but nodded. “Um, thank you. That’s great.” Meeting Russell’s eyes she seemed at a loss, which surprised him, but she covered it up quickly. “Eat, though, we have plenty, truly.”

He squeezed her hand gently.
We.
He liked that—
we
. He’d like
we
even better up at the ranch, but first things first. He was here, and that had to count for something. She left her hand in his, threading her soft fingers with his like she had the day before.

Eagle tackled the eggs and muffins with a grin. The bastard was always eating everything at the ranch, and he didn’t even live in the main house. The man had his own food and had probably had breakfast already.

“So, tell me what this is? Blueberry? It’s great. Here, babe, taste this.”

Russell watched Eagle break off a bite of muffin for Katya and feed her the bite. Russell held in a growl, not at all happy with Eagle. Or Katya, who was smiling at him around her mouthful of muffin.

“That’s delicious… Nutmeg? Something else, too. Lemon? I can’t cook worth beans, but I can already tell you’ll have to show me this recipe,” Katya said, stealing another piece of Eagle’s muffin.

Susan blushed prettily at the compliment. “Lemon and nutmeg, that’s all. And then the berries. Muffins aren’t difficult. I can show you or give you the recipe.”

Wrinkling her nose, Katya said, “Showing might be necessary. I don’t cook…or bake.”

Susan shrugged. “Not everyone does. I like it. It’s pretty soothing, plus I get the bonus of not having to go buy what someone else made.”

“True, and out here? Not many places to buy from, right?” Eagle asked, around a mouthful of eggs. “Not like New York.”

Susan busied herself with her plate of eggs and nodded. “Nope, not at all. How did you hurt yourself, Katya?”

Russell eyed Susan’s profile. She looked uncomfortable. He knew she didn’t like talking about her past, but he had to wonder if that was because it was all a lie. Did she even have a father who’d died? His stomach bottomed out. It would make sense, since there were no pictures, but why? Why make up something like that? Remembering her tears, he shot that down. No, she had a father who’d died. Recently. Russ would bet the farm on it.

Katya made a disgruntled sound, drawing his attention off Susan.

Eagle shifted in his chair before grumbling, “A fuckin’ ram.”

He watched Susan and wasn’t surprised when she glanced up at him, then at Katya when he squeezed her hand and nodded. “A ram?”

“Sorry, Eagle has some language issues.” Katya gave Eagle a dark look, then smiled over at Susan.

Russell shared a look with Eagle and the man gave him an amused stare. Maybe he’d have to clean his language up, too.
At least outside of sex
, he amended, swelling at the memory of Susan telling him to fuck her harder. He’d liked that. More than liked it. She was so sweet and innocent, and to hear her talk dirty was a major turn-on.

“I was feeding our sheep. We have about eight females and one really terrible, hard-headed, stubborn, irritating male.” She glanced at him, then Eagle before looking back at Susan, who was nodding and glancing at him with a small smile.

Huh. Cute and a ram, huh? The woman had cried out his name during her climax, three times, then had a fit, now was comparing him to a sheep? And why did that make him want to laugh and pull her close to kiss her senseless?

“Anyway, the male got out—he always gets out. I think he might be part escape artist, but anyway, he got out. Only I didn’t realise it, and, well… I tend to tease the hell out of him, because, well, he is irritating. Anyway, I turned and there he was, or rather, I turned at the sound of him already charging. I took a quick exit around a horse, but he didn’t want to stick around so I was making it to a gate, jumped it sideways, you know? A low gate, and he hit it right then. Only my arm was still caught. Hurt pretty bad, but nothing was broken.”

Susan blinked a few times, tilted her head as if to see if Katya were being serious, then shifted a look at him. He sipped his coffee and hid a grin. He liked that about Susan, how she could take a joke, but also how she hesitated over it, as if not quite sure.

“You’re serious? A loose farm animal attacked you?” she managed, fighting a grin that kept making her dimple appear.

Katya waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Yep, well, it’s a ram, not a chicken. And outweighs Eagle by a few pounds.”

Russell took a big forkful of eggs and peppers, watching Susan. She’d put sausage in the eggs, too. It was delicious. Real good. Spicy, warm and creamy. He was going to have to come up with something more than a puppy for her if she liked to make him food like this. He’d have to… Glancing around the house, he frowned. He didn’t know what he could give her. She was set. Except for sleeping in the U-Haul because she was afraid, she was all set. What could he give her, really? Protection, he supposed. And every single ounce of his attention.

“So, why did you think a horse could help you?”

Eagle started laughing first, then Katya, and finally Russell couldn’t hold it any longer either when Susan frowned at them all. He tugged her hand up and kissed the tips of her fingers. “Katya is always getting into some battle or another with the livestock.”

“Oh, wow, that’s…that’s…terrible,” Susan murmured, still looking a bit wide eyed.

“Nah, only when I get hurt—then Eagle has a complete meltdown,” Katya teased, letting Eagle feed her another bite. That was an understatement. The woman could get a splinter and Eagle went ballistic.

“Damn right. I take my job of keeping your ass out of trouble seriously.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Russell met Susan’s eyes and squeezed her hand again. She was looking a bit overwhelmed and he couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of his friends stopping by. Not Katya’s whirlwind, but because their visit made them a bit more of a
couple
. He wanted them to be. But did she?

“You all set for the roundup on Monday?” Eagle asked then, and he wanted to grumble or punch the grin off his buddy’s face. He’d wanted to break the roundup to Susan slowly. Not here and now.

Eagle lifted a cocky brow that was going to get the man in serious shit.

“Yeah, I asked the Martin brothers to come down, Steve Davison, and the Robinsons, I think.” Russell rubbed his chin trying to get his brain to work.” Maybe those two hands, Toby and Roy?”

“Those two are plain stupid. Fulmers all the way.” Eagle pulled Katya tighter in his arms and rubbed a hand up and down her thigh.

Susan blinked at him a few times, then hid a smile in her coffee.

“Now stop it. What is a fulmer? You know I can’t stand that Navy made-up word stuff,” Katya complained with a frown.

From his periphery, Russell saw Susan eat some of her eggs, the knowing little smile still in place. Did she know what a fulmer was? How could she? It was Navy slang for a go-getter, only the dumbass couldn’t go and get; he screwed up every job ever given to him.

“It’s a word to use for boys that have no skill, babe. Sorry, but those two need more babysitting than the cattle,” Eagle grumbled.

Russ grunted. Eagle didn’t like Toby because he’d once asked Katya out, and she’d gone out with him when Eagle was being a dumbass.

“God, that is just plain mean, Eagle. Toby and Roy are nice guys.” Smacking Eagle lightly on the arm she kissed his cheek and turned to Susan with a grin. The woman was too much. And absolutely perfect for his tough buddy. “Wanna see the things we brought? Bowls for her, a bed, toys, food… Seeing how you’re new and all…”

The eggs were gone—only two muffins remained. He snagged one and shot Eagle a warning look for the last one. That was for later.