Western Ties: Compass Brothers, Book 4 (13 page)

Though they all knew it was an empty threat, Sawyer watched his brothers nod solemnly. Whether it was today, or a year from now, they’d do their best to honor that promise to their father. It was no secret their mother would be devastated enough by the loss of her husband. Dissention in the family would kill her quicker than the cancer gnawing on his father’s pancreas. A ranch, even one as sprawling as their holdings, would be a small place for four strong-willed Compass brothers. Somehow, they’d make it work.

When JD’s gaze landed on Sawyer, he followed suit.
 

JD returned to the house, and Sawyer released a long, hard breath. “Fuck,” he muttered so softly only Leah heard. His heart was beating too hard, and he was struggling to take a deep breath. He needed…

Leah placed her hand over his where it rested against the car. “It will be okay.”

He lifted his face to hers and revealed too much when her eyes widened. He needed
her
. Now.

She shook her head. “Your whole family is here,” she whispered.

“I don’t care.”

“Be practical,” she pleaded.

“No.”

“Sawyer?” Sam approached the car warily.
 

Sawyer looked at his brother and the ice-cold pain he’d experienced since seeing JD was replaced by anger so hot it singed.

“It’s not a good time, Sam. You heard JD. He doesn’t want us to upset Mom. Right now, I can’t look at any of you without needing to beat the shit out of you, so step off.”

Sam nodded stiffly. “Fine. But eventually you’re going to have to cool down enough to let me enlighten you on a few things.”

Sawyer shrugged. “Later. Not now.”

Sam turned his attention to Leah. “Hey, Leah. Sorry you had to see all that.”

She smiled at his twin, and Sawyer felt that familiar nagging jealousy. He knew it was impractical, but his emotions were on system overload.

“It’s okay.” Leah’s face softened, her eyes filled with compassion. “It’s a rough time for everyone.”

Sawyer swung his duffel over one arm while grasping Leah’s hand with his free one. He headed for the house when Silas stepped into his path.

“You’re pissed off, Saw. I get it. But you’re wrong to heap all the blame on Sam’s head.”

Sawyer gave his oldest brother a nasty smile. In the past, he’d looked up to Silas as much as he did JD. He’d emulated his older brother, tried to be like him. Right now, that admiration was gone, replaced with hurt and anger. “Oh, don’t worry, Si. Sam’s not the only one with a day of reckoning coming.”

He stepped around his brother, enjoying the shocked expression on Si’s typically set-in-stone features. He’d never dared to face off against his older, bigger, tougher brother before, but things had changed.

“God dammit, Saw. Don’t you think it’s time you took a minute and listened?”

Sawyer’s vision blurred with fury and grief. Too much had happened too fast. He couldn’t take one more thing. He honestly couldn’t. “Not now, Si.”

He wasn’t sure what his brother saw in his face, but Silas nodded and stepped out of his way.

He continued to drag Leah into the house and upstairs to his room, not bothering to acknowledge the fact she was struggling pretty hard against him. When they entered his room, he tossed his duffel on the floor, then shut the door and locked it.

He tried to take a deep breath, but he was lost.

 
“Jesus, Saw.”

He glanced up and saw Leah’s pretty face, the concern written in her eyes. Common sense flew out the window.

“Lift that skirt.”

She shook her head. “You’re crazy if you think I’m going to have sex with you here while your whole family is downstairs. You’ve been home less than ten minutes and you’ve had a fight with all your brothers, seen your dad’s illness up close and personal and pissed off every single woman on the ranch. Don’t you think it’s time you took a breather?”

Leah clearly didn’t understand. She was his fresh air, his saving grace. He closed his eyes, wishing he could think of another way to escape the dark.

When he spoke, his voice was ragged. “I don’t need a breather. I’m going to tell you one more time to lift that skirt, Leah. You know what to say if you don’t want that.”

He wondered what he’d do if she gave him her safe word. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t sure he could guarantee he’d respect the rule. He needed the sweet oblivion she could offer. Everything she’d said was true. As far as homecomings went, he’d managed to score the world’s worst. But she was wrong about the cure. She was it. She would always be it.

She slowly lifted the hem of her short skirt. “We have to be quiet, Sawyer. I’d be mortified if your mother knew—”

He silenced her with a hard kiss. “We’ll be as quiet as the sea on a calm morning. I promise.” Tugging at the waistband of her panties, he shoved them down. He unzipped his jeans and pushed them to his knees. “Bend over the mattress. I’m afraid this is going to go too fast.”

He’d taken her this morning against the wall of the bedroom in L.A. He hadn’t planned it, but as they’d gathered up their things, intent on heading to the airport, his anxiety got the better of him. He’d taken her roughly, shoving the crotch of her panties out of the way and fucking her hard. Leah had given as good as she got, digging her nails into his shoulders, driving him wild with her demands. They’d come together quickly and the memory of it was the only thing that had gotten him through the too-long flight home.

He ran his hand along his erection. Within seconds, Leah was draped over his bed, her round ass beckoning him. He itched to lay his palm against her soft skin, but there was no way he could spank her without his family hearing the smacks or Leah’s loud cries. She was a vocal lover, her screams and dirty demands never failing to turn him on even more.

He spread her ass with his hands and saw the proof of her desire smeared on her thighs. He aroused her, turned her on. It was a heady feeling—one he thought he’d never get used to. He placed his cock at the wet opening of her cunt and pressed forward in one long, hard motion. Leah groaned and Sawyer grinned.

If anyone was going to have a problem keeping quiet, it wasn’t going to be him. He pulled his T-shirt over his head and dangled it in front of her face. “Maybe you’d better stuff this in your mouth, rose.”

She shot him a dirty look over her shoulder, prompting him to retreat and return with a hard thrust. She cried out loudly.
 

“Fuck,” she muttered as she took the shirt from him, biting down on the material. Christ, he was never washing that shirt again.

The sound of a radio drifted down the hall from Seth’s room and Sawyer grinned, despite himself. Even after his asinine behavior outside, Seth had his back, helping to drown out what he and Leah were up to.

He began to pound inside her body, taking care not to shake the bed too hard. Gripping her hips, he enjoyed the image of her ass moving toward him. She’d mentioned a few times in the past being unhappy with her weight, but Sawyer couldn’t see why. She had the perfect hourglass shape.
 

Leah thrashed beneath him, adding her own movements to the rhythm. Within minutes, Sawyer was on the verge of exploding. He reached around Leah’s waist and pressed on her clit. He’d become obsessed with the tightness of her pussy milking him as he came. He needed that sensation as much as he needed food and air and water. She forced more of his shirt in her mouth as her groans grew louder.

The muffled sound of her cries drove him as crazy as her screams.
 

“Can’t hold on, rose. Come for me. Come with me.”

Her pussy clamped down the moment he issued the invite. His balls constricted, and his cock exploded as he filled her with his come. He’d never taken a woman without a condom before Leah, but he refused to put any barriers between them. Ever.

With his climax, the turmoil of the afternoon seemed to drift away. A few minutes in her arms and his sea legs returned.
 

He took a deep breath and let the calm descend, relishing it.

After a few moments, Leah’s arms stopped supporting her and she fell forward onto the mattress. He followed her.
 

She pulled his T-shirt out of her mouth. “I can’t believe I did that.”

Sawyer chuckled. “Might be more correct to say
we
did that.”

She attempted to dislodge him. He rolled to the side, watching as she left the bed. “I must be out of my mind. We’re in your family’s house. I’m not this kind of girl, Sawyer. How can I look JD in the face again? What if your mother heard? What if she tells
my
mom?”

Sawyer fought to restrain his mirth when he saw the genuine panic on Leah’s face. “We’re not still in high school, Leah. We’re adults. There’s nothing wrong with what we did.”

She hastily set her clothing to rights. “Your family’s going to think I’m a slut.”

He frowned, rising quickly. “No. They’re not. We’re friends. There’s no reason why they wouldn’t think you just offered me a ride from the airport.”

She raised her eyebrow and gestured to the mussed-up bed.

He chuckled. “Well, I guess they
would
have thought that. Now they’ll probably assume you’re my girlfriend.”

“But I’m not.”

Sawyer shrugged. “Leah. I don’t have all the answers right now. Does it really matter what other people think?”

“I don’t like deceiving your family.”

Sawyer panicked. If she insisted they call a halt to things now, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. “I’m not finished with you, Leah. I wish I could offer you more, but right now, with my life such a mess, this is the most I have to give.”

She plopped into a chair in the corner tiredly. “I’m not asking for more, Saw. I’m not ready for this to end yet either.”
 

He breathed a sigh of relief as she looked around his bedroom, her gaze taking in every detail. He followed her visual tour, wondering what she was thinking as she looked at his old football trophies, the posters of cars and bikini-clad girls.
 

Now that he was moving home to stay, it was definitely time to update the décor. “Guess it’s obvious I haven’t been home much since I graduated.”

She smiled. “It’s a nice room. Big one. I sort of assumed you’d shared a room with Sam.”

Sawyer shook his head. “We did when we were kids. It was fun then. We had bunk beds and all kinds of toys and shit. As we got older, we needed our own space. Good thing there’s plenty of space in this house. Puberty hit Sam hard.”

Leah laughed. “Just Sam?”

Sawyer shrugged, but didn’t respond. “We probably would have killed each other if we’d had to share a room throughout high school.”

“I never had my own bedroom.”

He sat on the edge of the mattress. “Really? You’re an only child.”
 

“We couldn’t afford more than a very small apartment. When I was little, I slept in my mom’s room with her. As I got older, I claimed the living room so I could have my own space and I slept on the couch.”

He stared at her. “Leah, how did I not know all of this about you when we were younger?”

She shrugged. “I was embarrassed, Saw. Didn’t you ever wonder why I never invited you to my home to play?”

He raised his hands. “I’m a guy, Leah, and obviously not prone to thinking too much or being very observant.”

She laughed. “Maybe, but I can’t let you carry all that weight around. I was really good at shielding certain things about myself.”

He wasn’t sure why, but he was hurt by her deception. “Why wouldn’t you tell me? I didn’t care if you had money or a nice house.”

“Things that mattered when I was a teenager seem silly to me now. I wish I knew why. I think I looked at you and saw so many things that I wanted—a big family, a nice house, a comfortable life. When I was with you, I was able to forget that I didn’t have those things for a little while.”

He could understand wanting to forget. It was a feeling he was becoming far too familiar with.

He gave her a seductive smile. “So, what’s your sleeping situation now?”

She laughed. “Well, I’m not sleeping on a damn couch these days if that’s what you’re asking. Once I got a job at the elementary school, I moved into my own very spacious one-bedroom apartment and spent part of my first paycheck on a slightly used double bed someone was selling at a yard sale.” Her smile grew. “I can still remember my first night in that big bed all by myself. I felt like the Queen of England.”

He shook his head, grinning like a fool at her silly story. He’d taken so much for granted in his life, the roof over his head, the food on the table. Even his family… JD’s health. He’d assumed all those things would always be there for him.
 

Leah had worked her ass off for every single thing she’d ever owned.
A rose in a field of dandelions.
JD must have known about Leah’s struggles, known how truly remarkable she was.
 

Sawyer vowed then and there he’d find a way to make Leah’s life easier for her.

Vicky’s voice called up the stairs. “Dinnertime.”