Ramagos, Tonya - Strictly Accountable [Stud Service 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (7 page)

She heard her call-waiting beep just as Lucille said, “I won’t keep you then. But you keep me posted on what’s going on with Rita and Mr. Holt.”

“Will do.” Sabrina pushed the button on her Bluetooth to swap wireless lines and said a silent prayer she didn’t drop the waiting call. She did a happy bounce in her seat when her mother’s voice flooded the line. “Hi, Mom. What’s up?”

“Did you call last night, sweetheart?”

“I did. And where were you? On a hot date?” she teased. Her mother’s giggle made her smile.

“As a matter of fact, your father took me dancing.”

“Ooo, lucky you.” Sabrina looked both ways as she crossed into traffic then settled back in her seat for the drive to Holt’em Up Ranch. “Did you have fun?”

“We had a blast.” The hesitation in Maria’s voice should’ve been Sabrina’s first clue of alarm. She didn’t catch it in time to divert the conversation. “We ran into Jake. You remember him, don’t you, darling? He’s such a nice young man. He asked about you. Of course, he always does every time we see him. He said he saw you when you and your sisters were here last year.”

Sabrina wrinkled her nose at the memory. Overweight and needy to the ick power, seeing him hadn’t been one of the highlights of her trip home. Then again, that particular trip when her parents dropped their happy-grandchildren bombshell really didn’t produce any highlights at all.

“He works for Hertz Rent-a-Car. Savannah and I got a car from him when we arrived at the airport.”

“That’s what he said last night. He really likes you, you know. You could do a lot worse.”

“Oh, please, Mom. I know you’re going bonkers for more grandchildren, but surely you want them to come from a better gene pool than that.” Like a pair of drool-over-me Wranglers encasing one spectacular cowboy by the name of Brody Holt.

Down girl, Sabrina silently scolded herself. The minute she started thinking about gene pools, she’d start remembering that kiss, the one that rocked her world two ways from Sunday and very nearly stole her soul.

Nope, not a good idea to think about that right now
. Or to remember how George did little to calm the need that kiss instilled inside her. George was apparently losing his jungle powers. Or maybe he simply needed fresh batteries.

“What I want are grandchildren,” her mother stated, drawing her back from her reverie. “And I’m starting to wonder if you even know how to get a man out of his jeans.”

Sabrina’s jaw dropped, and she swerved. The tires skidded onto the soft dirt shoulder of the back country road before she righted the steering once more. “Mother!” No way would she comment on that further. It was time to change the subject, and fast. “This is not the reason I called last night. I needed to talk to you or Daddy about ranch business and Generator’s Charmer.”

“Why would you want to talk about your father’s horse?” Maria’s confusion came thick through the line. “William bought that horse two years ago because he simply fell in love with it. You know that, sweetheart.”

“Yes. I do.” It was one of the few times in her life she’d seen her father act total ga-ga over something. Kindred spirits, she’d thought as she’d watched him with the horse, listened to him boast about what a fantastic animal the horse was and how he absolutely had to have him. “I wondered if you could look through the records and see how much he paid for it.”

“I don’t need to look it up. I know exactly what he paid.”

When her mother rattled off the number, Sabrina very nearly swerved again. “You’re sure?” No way. That was triple the horse’s worth!”

“Positive. It’s not often your father will agree to such an exorbitant price for an animal, but he wanted it that badly. Why would you ask about Generator’s Charmer, Brina?”

“Brody Holt has hired me to take care of the Holt family income taxes. There’s some, um, curious things that I can’t discuss.”

“What is it about a person’s death that tends to make you see them in a different light?” her mother wondered.

Sabrina guessed rumors were starting to spread through the ranch vines, but she didn’t ask. “Ironic, isn’t it.”

“And what about the youngest Holt, this Brody? Is there any curiosity there?”

Sabrina heard the question her mother left unasked and thought she had far more curiosities about the man than she was willing to share. “He’s a client, Mother.”

“That’s how many people meet their true love, darling.”

“So I’ve heard. Listen, I’m almost to Holt’em Up Ranch. I love you, Mom. And tell Daddy I love him, too.” She turned off her Bluetooth, severing the connection as she pulled into the long drive of the Holt ranch. It didn’t occur to her until she brought her car to a stop in front of the main house that she forgot to send Brody a text before heading out here.

With an apology on the tip of her tongue, she walked up the front steps and rang the doorbell. No one answered. She rang it twice more with the same results then typed a quick text into her phone.

Where are you
? She tapped her foot on the porch as she waited for his response. It came after a minute and a half delay.

Dipping behind barn
.

Sabrina stepped off the porch and turned, spotting the barn in the distance behind and to the side of the house. She shoved her phone in her purse as she made her way toward it. “I’m sorry I forgot to text before…” she began, raising her voice to be heard as she cornered the barn and froze. “Jumpin’ jelly beans.”

Narrow hips disappeared beneath the surface of a shimmering pond. Sabrina dragged her startled gaze up an abdomen of outrageously toned muscles, a chest speckled with dark curls, and shoulders of pure latch-on-to-me-while-you-ride-me perfection.

Brody turned his upper body, tossing the phone he held onto the bank, and pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Yeah, I guess they better jump seeing as how they’re likely to get squished by a pogo stick otherwise.”

Sabrina blinked her confusion. All that deliciously tanned, stupendously corded flesh made her brain fizzle like a fried vegetable. “What?”

He grinned, pure devil temptation and male amusement, and shook his head. “Never mind. I do enjoy your sayings though, darlin’.”

“What?” She shook her head, focused on the trees high above his head, and did her damnedest to find her scruples among the lust clogging her head. To his credit, he gave her time to regain her composure before he chuckled.

“Something wrong, Sabrina?”

“I thought I told you no surprises today.” She dared to look at him again, but didn’t dare to let her attention move from his face. It was devastating enough to a woman’s senses.

“I thought I told you to text before coming out,” he countered smoothly.

“I did.”

Brody lifted a brow. “I’ve got a lead foot, darlin’, and a mean sports car in the shed to use it in, and I still can’t make it from town to here in a minute and a half. I doubt seriously that Saturn I saw you driving yesterday could do it either. Where were you when you sent that text?”

Sabrina chewed her bottom lip, knowing he had her. “On the front porch.”

“Well, now,” he drawled. “You could’ve said that in your text.”

“You could’ve said you were naked!”

“I told you I was dipping behind the barn. What did you think I meant?” His eyes flashed with a riot of amused fireworks, and his grin spread from ear to ear. “Did you think I was hiding out dipping snuff like some teenager? I’m too smart for that. I wouldn’t stand a chance of getting my mouth on you again if I did that.”

Every ounce of her being dictated she not respond to that comment. “Shouldn’t you be working?” she fired instead.

“It’s Sunday. People aren’t supposed to work on Sundays.”

“You expected me to.”

“No,” he said slowly. “That was your choice. Of course, you could always take the day off and come for a dip with me.”

Chapter Four

Brody watched the indecision wage a war in Sabrina’s expression and knew he was sunk even before she made up her mind to join him. He should let her do what he hired her to do and send her home. He should be keeping a nice, professional distance between them because the fact was he already figured out the cause of the tightness in his chest and his uncharacteristic lack of self-control around her. He was already half-crazy about her.

It should’ve scared him spitless.

It didn’t.

“I’m here because you hired me to take care of your tax situation.” She sounded like she needed more reminding of that than he did.

“Is the IRS open on Sundays?” He could be reasonable about the whole thing, even rational. And if doing so got her naked and in this water with him where he could eventually work his way around to having his wicked way with her delectable body, then so be it.

She half-snorted at his question. “I doubt it.”

“Then clock out for a while, Sabrina. You work too hard.”

“I do what has to be done.”

“Days off have to be done, too. When is the last day you had one?”

“Yesterday.”

“No, you worked here then headed straight for the office.”

“I didn’t bring a suit.”

Her swift change in the subject told him just how tempting she found his invitation. Good. Now to up the ante. “Neither did I.”

Her eyes flashed a molten desire he couldn’t wait to dive into. “I shouldn’t.”

“Why? Are you afraid I’m going to bite?” He couldn’t deny her fears would be warranted. His teeth ached with the need to sink into the sensitized flesh of her neck, to close around the hardened points of her breasts.

“Among other things,” she admitted with a sly smile that did devious things to his cock and balls.

“How about if I promise to keep my teeth to myself?” He could keep that promise, as long as he didn’t add hands and lips to the list of things to keep to himself. “I’ll even be a gentleman and turn around while you undress.”

“The water isn’t very deep.”

Despite her arguments to the contrary, Brody could tell she wanted to be in the pond with him, naked with him, and, if he were lucky, enclosed around him.

“It’s deeper than it looks.” He stood flat-footed on the sandy bottom, and the waterline reached his upper hipbones. Given her shorter height, it would cover her tummy.

And leave her breasts above the surface.

The thought tightened his cock and sent a zing of pulsing electric hormones straight through his nuts. “I’m just taller than you are.”

Damn, but the way she constantly gnawed on her bottom lip when she fell into deep thought drove him one step closer to insanity. He wanted to take over the task for her, nip her lips with his teeth and then lick away the sting.

“This isn’t a natural pond.”

“Actually, it is. The water is fed from an underground spring. I added the mountain rocks around the bank and the rail and steps over there for my sisters when they were girls.” He rolled his eyes, remembering how Megan, Gabrielle, and Kayla ragged him for an entire winter to install the stairs and safety rail for them by summer.

Sabrina grinned. “Something tells me there isn’t much big brother won’t do for his little sisters.”

“Yeah, they know it, too. It’s ridiculous.”

“It’s admirable. Now, if you will, um,” Sabrina lifted a finger and twirled it in the air.