Love Under Two Cowboys (23 page)

Carrie gasped because this new angle pushed his cock so deep he bumped against her cervix. The twinge of pain that caused morphed into something more, something exciting and dark. He splayed his fingers wider and pressed a couple of them against the plug in her ass. She whimpered as her arousal shot away into the stratosphere, and refused her puny attempt to gather it close.

In this position, he could look down and watch what he was doing to her. Just imagining that made her even hornier.

“God, look at that! Look at my cock fucking you. You look so fucking beautiful with my cock moving in and out of your cunt. Baby, look over at Brian. Look how his eyes are on your cunt. Can you see the fever he has burning for you in his eyes? He’s hard again. Because of you. For you. It’s all you, Carrie. All you.”

Carrie reached out to Brian, unable to stem the nearly insatiable hunger that exploded in her for him, for them, for everything. She wrapped her hand around his cock and pumped even as she wrapped her legs around Chase’s hips. She stroked one lover, and squeezed the other with her inner muscles.

Brian moved, surged up on the bed, bringing his cock close to her face. Carrie opened to him, greedily sucked him in as the first tingles of rapture swirled through her. She sucked Brian hard, pumped her hips against Chase’s thrusts, and let go of everything but this loving, this moment.

“Oh, yeah, you are perfect for us. Absolutely perfect. Come, sugar. Come for us, while we come for you. Now, Carrie. Come now.”

Chase reached down and stoked her clit back and forth. Carrie gasped and whimpered around Brian’s cock as her climax was almost,
almost
there. Then Chase pinched her clit, and her entire body erupted in ecstasy so sharp, so thrilling, that she cried out and felt tears stream from her eyes from the absolute beauty of it. Chase left behind his careful rhythm and began to thrust hard and fast inside her. He growled at the same time Brian did.

Carrie closed her eyes to the magic of the moment. She gave herself totally to the thrill of bliss that swamped her, the taste of heaven in her mouth as she swallowed one lover’s cum, and the solid shiver of the pulsing cock of her other lover, deep inside her pussy.

As August burned hot with the Texas summer sun and the days came and went, the Benedict North Ranch began to take shape. Chase acknowledged on more than one occasion that Julián was a godsend. He and Brian both appreciated the man’s guidance in getting their ranch up and running. For a man who’d only been away from Wall Street for five and a half years, Mister Alvarez had certainly soaked up ranching and animal husbandry and basic know-how like a sponge.

Chase and Brian had been very specific in the goals that they’d presented to the Town Trust when they’d petitioned to be given this property to work. They wanted the Benedict North Ranch to be a
real
ranch, and they intended to be real, hardworking, and successful ranchers. They wanted cattle on this land, most certainly. Their goal was that eventually they would be able to produce beef that could be considered organic. That would take a few generations of cows, and hard work and keen attention on their part. They planned to start small, with just a few dozen head. Eventually, that arm of their business would grow and expand. It would damn well flourish if they had anything to say about it.

Despite that determination, and the fact that they were smack-dab in the middle of cattle country, their primary love was horses. More than anything they wanted to be known as horse breeders.

They weren’t, either of them, operating under any illusions. They knew it would be years, likely, before they could build a solid reputation for themselves in the equine world. After consulting with Julián and the Martinezes over in Divine, Chase and Brian had decided to begin by purchasing a number of two- and three-year-old mares. They would also pick up some geldings, and a couple of stallions, for balance, and for honing their skills.

But the mares would be the heart of their operation.

Originally, they’d thought they would go to auction and find all their stock—bovine and equine—there. Julián quickly changed their minds, and everything he’d told them had been seconded by the Martinezes.

Julián pointed out it would be better to acquire horses straight from the ranchers who’d raised them. “You get an idea when you meet the rancher what condition the animals are in,” he said. “At auction, often, you don’t get any opportunity to do this.”

Bloodlines were important, but so was the environment into which those fillies had been born, and raised. There were a wide variety of well-known horse farms—most in Texas, but a few they’d heard of in Colorado—whose business was selling horses. There were cattle ranches looking to cull their herds. Chase and Brian had their trust funds, and they also had the money they’d made in the corporate arena and through their own investments.

This ranch was going to be their life’s work, and so they had no qualms investing damn near everything they had, provided they were acquiring good stock in return.

The cattle were the easiest to purchase because they knew exactly what they wanted. They’d both agreed right from the start their herd would be Texas longhorns. They believed since the breed evolved right here in the state, it was best suited to the unique climate and environment Texas offered. Then, too, longhorns were generally considered to be the most cost effective of all the breeds, based on the higher fertility rates compared to other North American breeds, as well as its documented ease with calving and its resistance to disease.

Granted, their chosen breed didn’t have the pizzazz of Black Angus. But the beef was leaner than other breeds, and lower in saturated fats. The trend in restaurants was toward healthier eating, and the Texas longhorn was tailor made for that trend.

They had plenty of acreage, and fences that were sound now, thanks to their Uncle Jon’s advice. They had water on the land in the form of a creek, and water beneath the land accessible via wells that they could use for irrigation. Because they wanted to aim toward raising cattle that were as free of man-made chemicals as possible, they intended to grow their own hay and corn to supplement the natural grass from the pasture lands.

They asked their cousin, Jordan Kendall, to draw up plans for a bunkhouse. They intended to pay for it themselves, but any additional buildings or ranch improvements—like eventually constructing a manager’s house similar to the one they’d seen at the Divine Creek Ranch—that would come later, when the ranch began to turn a profit.

After discussing the matter with Julián, he and Brian had decided they would hire two hands to begin with, likely in October or November.

There was too much money sense bred into both of them to even once consider spending the rest of their lives throwing good money after bad. They’d invest heavily at the outset, but then the onus would be on them to
make
this ranch work.

By God, this ranch will work if I have to give it every drop of my blood.

Just because he and Brian had been born into a wealthy family didn’t mean they could lie back and do nothing with their lives. They’d needed to be strong enough to reach out for their dream, and they needed to work hard enough and
smart
enough to make it a reality. Being wealthy was all well and good, but in the end it didn’t make them men—or men of substance.

What made them men was the sum total of the decisions they made, and the actions they took. What made them men was the content of their characters, not the contents of their wallets.

As Chase sat astride Jasper and took a moment as he often did, to look at the land and reflect upon their progress, he knew they were on the right path.

He turned and watched Julián ride through the small herd of cattle—they only had twenty at the moment—heading toward the gate that would let him out of the large corral on the east side of the barn.

They’d move the longhorns soon enough to one of the smaller pastures.

Brian rode up and joined him, and for a moment neither of them said anything. Finally, Brian sighed. “We won’t find another wrangler who’s as comfortable with the spreadsheets as he is with riding herd as that man right there.”

“I know, damn it.”

Julián had promised them two months, and they were nearly at the end of that time. He hadn’t said anything specific, but he had headed off to Divine a few times on his days off. Chase and Brian both knew he was happy to be here, to be building a relationship with his brother and his brother’s new in-laws. But they both understood the truth of the matter.

“Maybe he’ll give us a bit more time, but you have to know he’s not completely at home here,” Brian said. “I don’t think Lusty is his place.”

“I don’t think it is, either. I think we should talk to him tonight, see if he can give us another month or so. And maybe we can get him to scout around for someone to take his place. He seems to know a lot of folks. He won’t steer us wrong.”

Brian smiled. “You know, in a way, I think I’d be happier having Julián just as a friend as opposed to an employee, too.”

“Yeah, I hear ya. What does that make us?”

Brian shrugged. “Honest.”

Julián walked his horse toward them. “Those cows seem to be settling in just fine. Once those three mommas found their babies, and they all found the feed and water, they appeared to be in bovine heaven.”

“Good. We’ll get Doc Marshall to come out from Gatesville and give them a good look.”

“Medical records are in on your desk,” Julián said. His gaze wandered to over Chase’s shoulder, apparently looking toward the house and the long lane that led to the front door. “Huh.”

Chase turned in his saddle to see what had caught the wrangler’s attention. The sheriff’s car was making its way down the lane. Whoever was driving sure wasn’t wasting any time getting to them, either.

His heart in his throat, he put his heels to Jasper. The only reason he could think that either Adam or Matt would be speeding toward them that way was if someone they cared about was in trouble.

His family numbered in the dozens in Lusty, but only one name came to his mind and made his pulse pound.

Carrie.

Until he brought his horse to an abrupt stop, Chase hadn’t realized that both Brian and Julián had joined him in racing toward the arriving vehicle.

The driver’s door sprang open. Sheriff Adam Kendall was out of the car before Chase could reach him. “Carrie is fine. She’s at work, none the wiser, and Matt’s at the restaurant, keeping watch.” He exhaled deeply.

“There’s a problem.”

“Yeah, you could say that. I’ll tell you first, but then we
have
to go into town and tell your woman.”

Chase met his brother’s gaze and then turned his attention back to Adam. “We would never hide anything from Carrie, even if we thought telling her what was happening would upset her.”

“I am glad to hear that,” Adam said.

“Come on,” Brian said. “Let’s put these horses up and then go inside. I have a feeling I’m going to want to sit down to hear whatever it is you have to tell us.”

Adam nodded, his expression grim. “I think you will, too.”

* * * *

“We’re down to three tables, and they’re all fine for a few minutes.” Michelle came into the kitchen and hopped up onto one of the stools kept there for staff. “That was a
very
busy lunch crowd.”

“
And
a very generous one.” Emily Anne had come through from the dining room just a few seconds behind Michelle. Instead of sitting down right away, she headed over to the fridge and pulled out the pitcher of sweet tea.

Carrie looked up from the meatloaf she was mixing for the dinner crowd. “I can’t say as I’ve ever seen a meal hour here that wasn’t busy, and I’ve been here a few months now.”

“True.” Michelle nodded her thanks for the glass of ice tea Emily handed to her.

The younger woman boosted herself onto a stool and sighed with pleasure. She looked down at her feet. “I think I need to get a new pair of shoes for these tired old feet.”

“They have some at that shoe store at the mall just as you get inside Waco,” Tracy said. “They’re pricey, but definitely worth the cost.”

“In that case, I think a shopping trip is in my immediate future.” Emily smiled. “This is the first job I’ve had where I’m on my feet most of the day. It’s taking me a while to get used to it.”

“I hear you,” Tracy said. “Before Kelsey opened this restaurant, I worked in Waco at an insurance office, so I was used to being on my butt all day.”

At the mention of the boss’s name, Carrie looked around, expecting some comment from the restaurant owner. “Where
is
Kelsey?” Carrie felt a little chagrinned she hadn’t noticed before then that they were a couple of people short in the kitchen. “And, come to think of it, where’s Ginny?”

“Kelsey is in the dining room grilling Matt, and I think Ginny is acting as her backup.” Michelle snickered as she said that. “He was squirming like a guilty perp when we came in here. I expect him to break and spill his guts at any moment.”

Carrie looked over at Tracy, who shrugged. Then she turned her attention back to Michelle. “What do you mean, ‘grilling Matt’?”