His sexy lips tip up on one side and he steps into my space, leaning his hands on the counter on each side of me. His gorgeous blue eyes are sparkling with mischief. “I can think of more than horses to ride.”
Tipping my head back, I smile as my core starts to heat up, it doesn’t take much when he looks at me like that. Not to mention the hormones, it’s all I think about when he’s near. My heightened sexual appetite has greatly shortened thelearning curve on my aggression, sometimes I practically attack him as soon as he gets in bed.
His hat is on backward, he knows how sexy I think he is when he wears it like that. I slide my hands under his flannel, and I fight the urge to pull his t-shirt out of his jeans around his waist as I press closer to him and brush my lips over his neck, “I want you to tell me in great detail what you mean.” My voice is barely a whisper against his neck.
“Careful, darlin’, in a few more seconds, I’ll be throwing you over my shoulder to take you to the bedroom and show you what I mean.” His hand moves to my lower back and presses me against his hard length that is straining his jeans.
“Sloane, is there a sewing kit somewhere to mend the rip in this shirt?” Hallie’s eyes flare wide when she sees us as she walks into the kitchen and then she turns on her heel to leave the room.
Hallie is the girl we hired a few weeks ago to help me around the house, she came highly recommended by Opal. She had been staying at the Day Center for a couple of weeks and was helping with general housekeeping duties during the day.
She’s a few years younger than me, but when I look in her eyes, I can see a lifetime of hurt and sadness. I recognized the look immediately because I had the same hollow look in my eyes for almost five years after my brother killed my parents.
My heart goes out to her every time I think about what she’s been through, she ended up at the Day Center because her live-in boyfriend went to jail for beating up on her. Since he put her in the hospital the last time, the police got involved and she was finally able to press charges in hopes that he would go to jail and not be able to come after her in retaliation.
Of course, Mr. Harlow was happy to give her a chance.
Mason’s head falls and his forehead rests on my shoulder when he hears her and a quiet growly, groan vibrates in hischest. I smile against the warm skin under his ear and say, “Don’t worry, cowboy, we’ll pick this up later.” Just to tease him, I whisper, “You’ve made me so wet that I’m going to have to change.”
Another groan as he tightens his grip around my waist to press me against him harder. When he lifts his head, amusement shines in his eyes, “You’ll pay for that later.”
I kiss the edge of his mouth and smile, “I’m counting on it.”
Sliding out from between him and the counter, I go to find Hallie. She’s in the laundry room opening all the doors to the cabinets, when she sees me, her pale face turns scarlet and the freckles across her nose and cheeks stand out as she smiles, “Oops.”
She has the best sense of humor for someone who was used as a punching bag for the past year or so and I laugh, “It’s okay, that’s what he gets for hovering.” I step to her side and open the cabinet next to the dryer, “The sewing box is in here.” I pull down the small box and hand it to her.
“Thanks, Sloane.” She smiles when she takes it and turns to leave the room. I notice as she walks out that she is wearing clothes that I’ve seen Marley wear before, and I smile at knowing she is getting the same warm welcome that I got when I came to the ranch.
When I get to our room, I look through the drawer for another pair of panties before I go to the bathroom to change. The other day I Googled whether it was normal for me to be horny all the time and I was relieved to learn that it is, and I can have all the sex I want, but on the flip side I’m going through panties at an alarming rate. Tossing the wet panties in the hamper, I almost fall backwards when I step out of the bathroom.
Shock sends every hair on my arms and my neck standing up, and a coolness frosts me from the inside out.
“Hey Sloane,” Austin is standing in our bedroom. He lookslike shit in dirty, wrinkled, baggy clothes and his hair looks like it hasn’t been washed in a while. The smile on his face looks evil, “Well, aren’t you practically glowing?”
Looking around the room, I try to see where or how he could get into our bedroom. The window is closed, so he came in through a door, but how did he get in the house unnoticed? My heart is beating against my ribs and my breaths are choppy, the last time I saw him he had a gun, but I don’t see one in his hand now.
I think about where in the room Mason keeps all the guns and I take a step to the side toward the bedside table where the handgun is. His eyes narrow and he takes a step with me, so I stop.
“How did you get in?” I hate how I sound like a scared little girl, and I swallow as I curl my fingers into fists to try and give myself some courage.
“Good help is hard to find, especially the young ones, they leave doors and windows unlocked all the time. Especially when there are so many.” He spreads his arms wide and says, “It looks like you fell ass backward into some money here, Sloane.”
I take another step in the direction of the bed, and he takes a step with me. That’s why he’s here, he wants money. I shake my head, “I’m not giving you any money, Austin.” I try to sound firm, but my voice is shaking so bad that my throat is hurting.
Just over his shoulder, I see the top of an auburn head peep around the doorway and brown eyes look back and forth between me and Austin. Hallie looks terrified, but I try to snap her out of it, “Mason isn’t going to let you walk away from here, he’ll kill you before you get off the property.”
It worked, her head disappears and I’m hoping that she is on her way to get Mason.
He laughs and says, “Oh, no? He won’tknow a thing, you and me are going to go to the bank and you’re going to give me all the money Daddy dearest left you.”
I shake my head in small frantic movements, “No, I’m not going anywhere with you. You’re a murderer and you’re crazy if you think I’m taking a step out of this house with you.” I take another step to the table, it’s within reach now. But how do I open the drawer and grab it before he jumps on me?
His smile falls and rage mixed with hatred pours from his eyes, “You’ll fucking do what I tell you to do, or I’ll set this house on fire after I choke the life out of you.”
That’s all it takes for me to twist around and pull the drawer open, just as I grab the gun Austin tackles me, and I bounce off the wall and fall to the floor as he straddles me. I hear the gun bounce off the animal skin rug and I look to see how far away it is, when I get eyes on it a couple of feet away Austin’s fingers wind around my throat.
Pure rage pours off him in waves as he squeezes my neck, his red face is just inches away from mine and his lip is curled up. I grab his wrists and try to suck in air, but I can’t get a breath.
