Unable to Resist (31 page)

Duane’s shoulders shake with quiet laughter and his eyes shine. “I’m only five miles away but, I’ll miss you too,” he says with a smack of my ass.

I shake my head, mouth gaping fake anger and bring my mouth to his. The kiss is sweet at first. Who am I kidding? Every kiss that Duane gives me is sweet, but the instant his tongue meets mine, all hell breaks loose. We both moan into each other and he slams me against the door.

He picks me up under my ass, and I bring my legs around his waist to hold on as my hands brush through his hair. His hands travel all over my body, feeling all of my insecurities. But right now, I couldn’t give a crap; he worships my body, and damn if it doesn’t give me confidence that I haven’t had in an extremely long time.

The taut muscles in his back tense and move, as he breaks the kiss to lick down my neck. I groan at the feel of his hot tongue on my cool skin. He brings that magical tongue up my neck to my ear. Nibbling at my ear lobe, I hear his breathing pick up. Or is it mine?

Who cares?

Goose bumps break out all over my body, when his hand finds the hem of my shirt, and he skims the skin just under my right breast with his thumb. I bring my body closer to his hand, wanting more. Always wanting more.

I grind on his middle with my core, and he hisses through his teeth.

Gradually, he begins to slow our hot make out session, and groans in pain. “Dammit, woman. You’re making it very hard to leave.”

He pushes us closer together one last time in the place that I need it the most, and with an angry sigh, he sets me down. My legs are practically noodles when my feet reach the floor.

I straighten my crinkled shirt and look up at him through my lashes. Bringing us close together, Duane hugs me in a tight embrace.

Both of us are in a battle with ourselves, not wanting to let go. The moment he begins to loosen his hold, I hold tighter. When I’d think I’m taking too much of his time, I’d start to bring my hands down, he’d growl and pull me closer.

His phone begins to vibrate, and we finally break apart. Annoyed, he takes his phone out of his back pocket and looks at the screen. “It’s Aiden. I better get going.”

I bite my bottom lip and nod. “Okay, please be safe.”

I love you.

My head does a mental whiplash. Where the hell did that come from?

Way too early, Ann.

You know what, screw it. It’s true. I love him. Not that I’d tell him, I know when to keep my mouth shut. I don’t want to scare him away. He’s going off to save horses; the last thing he needs is to worry about telling me he loves me back. No. I want him to feel the same way about me. I’ll say it when it feels right.

I mean, geeze, we haven’t even been on a proper date yet. All aboard the crazy train. Choo-choo.

That perfect smile spreads across his flawless face and he kisses my nose. “I will. I’ll call you as soon as I get back in.” He pauses and lays his hands on my shoulders where they meet my neck, and he massages. “Can I please take you out this week? I don’t care what day. You can decide what we do and where we go if you want, but let’s just be together.”

His request sends flutters to my stomach and heart, so I nod.

Then, an idea pops into my mind.

“Of course. Call me when you get everything worked out and we’ll make a date.”

His eyes shine bright, and he picks me up around the waist and brings us together for another earth-shattering kiss.

I’m breathless by the time we break apart.

“I really need to get going,” he says.

On cue, his phone starts to vibrate, again. We both laugh.

I playfully push his shoulder, and open the door for him.

This time, he answers his phone. “I’m coming, asswipe. Now, quit calling.” He ends the call and gives me one last kiss on the cheek.

In a haze, he winks at me and walks out the door.

I dreamily sigh staring into the empty room, and walk toward my room. My bed welcomes me with open arms and I gladly run into it, allowing it to engulf me in a cushiony hug.

It’s sheer panic as I drive onto the ranch. There are at least fifteen men I don’t know running around on horses.

What the hell is going on?

I park in the garage and run to find Aiden. The barn is empty, and I walk from stall to stall trying to calculate how many are missing. When Aiden called he said a few horses were let out, along with a couple calves and some pigs. Simon is still in his stall. The chestnut snorts and whinnies at me from the back of his stall. With wild eyes, I pull open the door and put my hands up in surrender. “Easy boy, it’s just me.”

Simon’s eyes move about, checking me out, and he lets out a little whinny. With a slow pace, he walks up to my hands and nudges his big head into my chest.

“Good job, buddy. Everything is alright,” I whisper to my old friend, patting his large neck.

I pet Simon for a few minutes until I figure it’s time to get back to the chaos. When I turn on my heel to head to the tack room, Aiden walks in.

“Brother,” he breathes, “where the hell have you been? This place is going crazy.”

The madness I drove up to has died down a bit and only a few guys are running around. “I noticed. What the hell happened?”

Aiden lifts his straw cowboy hat and wipes the sweat from his forehead. “Hell if I know. This morning I woke up to the entire barn empty. Somehow all of the stalls were opened.”

“Where is Belle?” I ask. Almost all of the horses are back in the barn but her. She’s about ready to foal, and if there isn’t anyone around to help, the baby might not make it. Belle has been a high-risk all pregnancy from the start.

“Sam had been staying with Belle all week, but got sick last night. He left in the middle of the night to go to bed. He called beforehand, and I told him it was okay because I was going to get up early. But between the time Sam left and I got up, the barn was broken in to and…well, you know the rest.”

“Do you have any idea who did it? I mean, shit, Aiden, all the guys that work for us are good guys. They couldn’t have done this,” I say as I pull my boots on my feet and throw my Converse into the tack room.

Aiden pulls at a bale of hay and sticks a piece in his mouth. “I don’t think any of our guys did it. Cade said he saw a black SUV driving out of here this morning, but figured they got lost.”

The crack of thunder screams overhead and I flinch at the noise. Simon kicks the side of his stall and I quickly grab a saddle pad and my saddle. “Listen, we need to find Belle. How many others are still out there?”

Aiden shakes his head. “We found everyone but Belle. They all stayed around the ranch. Last time any of the guys saw her, she was on the north side of the property. That’s where I just got back from and she wasn’t there.”

I throw the pad and saddle on Simon, and pray she isn’t where I think she is. “Dammit, I have a feeling I know where she is. Get back on Leo and come with me. I’ll need you if I’m right.”

Aiden runs off to fetch Leo from the hitching post, while I tighten the cinch on the saddle. Once I slip on Simon’s bit and headstall, I throw myself on his back. With the squeeze of my legs and the cluck of my mouth, Simon bolts.

I whistle at Aiden, and he and Leo take off in a run to follow me. The clip-clop of the horses’ shoes against the soft dirt is almost soothing as we move further from the ranch and deeper into the woods behind the house.

The front half of our property is maintained for our fields. Forty acres grow alfalfa hay, and the other ten that sit behind the house aren’t used much. It’s mostly just unused land full of trees, but there’s a part in the fence at the back of the property that has been in desperate need of a repair since our last storm. I’ve yet to fix it, and I hope Belle isn’t out there.

Galloping at full speed, we make it to the back of the woods. The rain has begun to steadily fall and my hat is the only protection I have against it. I run up and down the fence, hoping to find Belle, but she’s nowhere to be found. My mind starts racing with the worst possible scenarios and I shake my head to empty the thoughts. I can’t lose that horse. She was Mom’s horse. I need to find her. Mom would be devastated.

I begin to panic when I hear rustling at the end of the fence.

“Duane, there she is!” Aiden yells over the thunder, pointing to Belle.

It’s early in the evening and the dark clouds make the backdrop of the scene probably seem worse than it really is. A streak of lightening brightens up the sky, giving me a glimpse of the horse lying on her side about ten feet ahead of us.

Aiden and I jump off our horses and rush to the hurt mare.

Powerless to get up, Belle’s front leg is wrapped around the metal fence.

“She’s struggling, brother. What should we do?” Aiden asks as he pulls a flashlight out of his back pocket and shines the light on the black mare.

The trees offer a bit of help, it’s pouring now, but I’m still able to see. Her eyes look scared, so I bend down and stroke her face. “Shh, girl.”

Aiden walks around to the back of the horse. “Uhhh, Duane. She’s giving birth. I see a foot back here.”

My head whips around and, sure enough, she’s beginning to foal, and we don’t have any time left to get her out of the fence. It’s do or die, right now. Save the baby, and then save her. I can’t lose both. “Alright, let’s do this.”

“Aiden, grab the gloves, it’s coming, we don’t have any time.”

Belle is screaming, from giving birth or from her foot being caught in the fence I don’t know, but I recoil every time. I hate seeing animals in pain. Her breaths become labored and she stops pushing.

“Dammit, we’re going to have to pull the foal out, Aiden,” I yell.

I count to three and, as gently as possible, I pull while Aiden keeps Belle calm. The feet come first, then the head between its feet. Belle thankfully gives one last push and the rest of the foal falls out effortlessly. With a thud, the small filly falls to the ground.

“It’s a girl, baby brother.”

Aiden’s eyes shine at my update.

Doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen a horse give birth, I’m always in awe of the work of nature.

Unlike anything I’ve seen before, the filly shakes her head and clumsily walks to Belle. Belle stops her crying and looks up at her baby. For a few seconds they stare at each other, the baby licks Belle’s face and Belle lays her head down. She stops struggling and breathes slowly.

I approach the horses and wait. I don’t want to spook the little filly, and I don’t want to distress Belle any more. Aiden calmly walks behind me, and the baby lies down with her head on Belle’s neck. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it first-hand.

Taking a deep breath, I turn to Aiden. “Sit down, keep her calm, please.”

He nods in agreement and I turn to Simon. Despite his normal demeanor, Simon is calmly eating a bush as I walk up to him. He’s soaked from the rain, but both him and Leo are acting like this is a standard occurrence for them.

Thank God something is going okay.

Grabbing the wire cutters I keep in my saddlebag, I hope I can get Bell cut out of the fence.

The two horses and Aiden are peacefully sitting in the rainstorm when I approach. I bend down and pet Belle’s face and nuzzle the new filly’s nose. She is the calmest baby I’ve ever seen. I give a kiss to Belle’s head.

When I get to where the fence and Belle are one, my stomach rolls. It looks really bad. She somehow got a piece of wire stuck through her foot. I’m going to have to cut around it and pull it out. I tear off my shirt to make a tourniquet that I know I’m going to need. “Aiden, did you bring your phone?”

He digs into his pocket and produces his cell.

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Great, call Sam. Ask him to hook my truck up to the horse trailer; she won’t be able to walk back. We’re going to have to haul her.” I softly rub the caught foot, and Belle flinches. “It’s alright, girl.”

As fast as humanly possible, I cut the wires. Almost like she knows what’s going to happen, Belle whinnies just a bit, takes a big breath, lays her head down and closes her eyes.

With a strong grip, I pull the wire out. The filly nudges Belle’s head, and Belle doesn’t make a sound. I wrap my shirt around her foot, and rub her neck. “You did it, girl. Good job.”