Rancher Read online

  I pet him and God, what I wouldn’t give to be out riding him.

  Keeper hands me a piece of apple. “Your color already looks better and you’re off the couch. Is it safe to say that we made the right decision bringing Nova here?”

  I feed the fruit to Dagger and shrug my shoulders. “She says she can help me walk without a limp. We’ll see.”

  Smoky comes up behind us and looks toward the house. Even from here, we can see her standing in the big bay windows. “Well, if nothing else, she’s a damn fine woman to look at. I might have to get injured after this just to get her hands on me.”

  My fists clench on to my crutches. “Fuck you, Smoky. That’s not going to happen.”

  He eyes me speculatively. “Oh, is that how it is?”

  “That’s the way it is, fucker, so quit looking at her,” I tell him and reach my crutch out to hit his legs.

  He sidesteps it easily and starts laughing. “Don’t worry, I’ll wait until she realizes what a stubborn ass you are, then make my move.”

  “Har, har, you think you’re funny.”

  We stand around and shoot the shit for awhile and I thank them for taking care of the animals. I watch as they drive off and then hang out at the barn for the rest of the day. I’ll probably regret it later, and my leg will give me fits, but the more time I have away from her the better.

  When it starts getting dark, I hear the crunch of gravel and know that she’s finally come looking for me.

  I’ve spent most of the day doing easy jobs to do the upkeep of the barn, but in fact, I just wanted to keep busy and stay far away from her. I know I’ve hit on her, but I’m sure today, I crossed some moral line. Yes, I want her. But I also don’t want her to feel uncomfortable either.

  “Rancher, where are you?”

  I step out of the stall and look at the other end where she’s standing in the doorway.

  Nova

  He’s avoided me all day. Either to get out of the therapy or to get rid of me—which it is, I’m not sure. I walk over and look up at him. Thankfully, he’s using his crutches but who knows how hard he’s pushed himself today.

  “Hey, I fixed dinner. I figure if you’re not going to show up for therapy, I could at least earn my keep around here.” I laugh, but a part of me is being serious. I caught up on patient notes and straightened up the living room and then spent the rest of the day reading romance novels.

  “I’m not hungry,” he grunts at me and right then his stomach growls.

  Laughing, I touch his arm. “Your stomach is saying differently.”

  He freezes under my hand and I pull it back from him. “Okay, obviously you just don’t like my company. I can have another therapist come out.”

  I look up at him and wait for a response, but he won’t look at me. I give him plenty of time, but he says nothing.

  I try to keep the hurt off my face, but I know it’s there. I start to walk away to go pack my bags.

  “Wait.”

  His gruff voice stops me, but I don’t turn around.

  He grunts and starts walking toward me, the frustration with his crutches apparent when he cusses as he fumbles with them.

  “I don’t want you to leave. Unless you think you should.”

  I turn to look at him with my forehead creased. “I don’t understand. Should I think I should leave?”

  He shrugs his shoulders.

  “Look, obviously you’re not comfortable with me being here. I think it would be easier on you if you had another therapist. I’m going to go pack my things.”

  “No!” His hand comes out and cups my shoulder, holding me still. When I turn around, he pulls it away. “I want you to stay. But I don’t want you to be uncomfortable doing it.”

  I start to shake my head, but then it hits me. “You’re talking about this morning?”

  He nods. “Yeah, I know I’ve joked around with you, but I would never do anything, at least on purpose, to make you feel uncomfortable. I mean, I can’t control my body’s reaction to being near you, but I would never act on it or try to force myself on you or anything.”

  I can tell he’s uncomfortable. Has he worried about this all day? “Can we talk about this inside at the table?” I ask. “The food is in the warmer, but I’m starving.”

  He looks at me skeptically, like he expects me to go off on him or something. Finally, he nods his head.

  We walk side by side back to the house. I take it slow, not wanting him to feel rushed on my account.

  When we walk in, the smell of pasta and garlic bread hits us.

  “Is that spaghetti?” he asks me.

  “Yep. Why don’t you get cleaned up and it will be ready.”

  He’s gone only a few minutes before he’s back in fresh clothes and his wet hair is slicked back from his face.

  We sit down and start eating. He moans between bites and it makes me wonder how long it’s been since he’s had a home cooked meal.

  We eat in silence, and I keep taking peeks at him, watching him enjoy his meal.

  “So, uh, I feel like I need to say it. You didn’t make me feel uncomfortable this morning. I’m not worried about my safety or anything like that. I know you’re a good guy,” I start to tell him and then take a drink of water to stall a little.

  His hand slides across the table and right before I think he’s going to touch my hand, he wraps it around the edge of the table and squeezes it.

  “I’m not a good guy, Nova. Don’t think that. You wouldn’t think that if you knew what I’ve been thinking about all day.”

  “What have you been thinking?” I ask him and then cover my mouth with my hands. Did I really just ask him that? “Forget it, I don’t need to know. It doesn’t matter. This”—I point between the two of us—“can’t happen. I’m here to get you walking. I can’t get involved with patients.”

  He releases the edge of the table and slides his hand toward my arm. We both watch him move and I tremble at the thought he’s going to touch me.

  When his hand wraps around my forearm and his thumb strokes across my wrist, I fidget in my seat. His touch makes me want things I shouldn’t.

  “All I’ve thought about all day is your hands on me. All I’ve thought about, all fuckin’ day, was putting my hands on you. I’m hard now, just thinking about it. If you stay here, Nova, I’m not going to be able to stay away from you. I want you too damn much.”

  “I can’t,” I squeak. “I could lose my job.” I jump up from the table and start piling the dishes in the sink. I start to wash them and when I look over my shoulder, Rancher is getting up and walking from the room. Man, I wish things were different.

  4

  Nova

  I stay awake all night. When I think I’m about to fall asleep, I jolt awake. When I first went to bed, I had plans to quit the next morning and send another therapist. That is the legal and moral thing to do. The right thing.

  The more I thought about it, the more shady it got in my head.

  All I could think about is how I always do the right thing. I’ve never strayed from it; I’ve always done what was right and expected of me.

  Well, now for the first time, I want something really bad. I want Rancher. He’s a good man, and he’s hurting. I want to be here for him and not just as his physical therapist.

  When I ask myself, Can you walk away from him tomorrow? The answer is no. Absolutely not.

  So I come up with a plan. And a prayer that I’m making the right decision.

  I make a few phone calls the next morning and hide out in my room until everything is in place.

  When I finally come out, I go to the kitchen and Rancher is sitting there at the table. He looks up at me and in that one look, I know I’m making the right decision.

  “Can we talk?”

  Rancher

  I know what she’s going to say even before she says it. I nod and she sits down. I brace for what I know is coming. She’s quitting on me. On us.

  She nervously rubs her hands
together. “Rancher, I made a few phone calls this morning. You have a new therapist showing up tomorrow.”

  There’s no sense in arguing. She’s obviously made up her mind.

  “Uh, and if it’s okay, well, God how do I even say this, I took two weeks vacation and I thought I could stay here… maybe help a little… as your friend.” She looks away from me, but not before I see the insecurity in her eyes.

  “Wait.” I hold my hands up. “You’re staying?”

  She shrugs her shoulders. “Yes, but not as your therapist. Of course I will still help you while I’m here, but yes, I would like to stay. But I could only take off two weeks. And you won’t be my patient.”

  I’m confused for a minute and then it hits me and I realize what this means.

  I reach over to her and pull her hand toward me until she’s out of her seat and on my lap.

  She makes sure to avoid my bad leg as she turns sideways, smiling at me. She cups my face in her hands. “I may not have thought this through. You may not want me here for two weeks. Maybe you wanted one night. And honestly, that’s fine, Rancher. I’ll take whatever you are willing to give me, because the way I feel when you touch me, well, I just want to feel that again.”

  “Honey, you’ll be lucky if I let you leave in two weeks.” I kiss her then and it’s just as sweet and primal as I thought it would be. Her lips touch mine and I get lost in it, not coming up for breath until I’m breathing raggedly.

  “Go to the bedroom, my bedroom, honey. I’ll be right there.” I help her off my lap and watch as she stands over me.

  “Let me help you, Rancher.” She reaches for the crutches but I stop her.

  “No!” I say, probably too harshly. I don’t want her to see me struggling and I don’t even know how I’m going to pull off having sex. But I know that nothing will stop me from having her.

  I soften my voice. ‘I’m fine. I’ll be right there.”

  She nods, and I watch her walk away.

  I take a deep breath and struggle to get up. Once standing, I use my crutches to go to the bedroom.

  She’s watching me as I walk across the room to her. She wastes no time and

  undoes my pants and pulls them, along with my underwear, down my hips and thighs.

  “Sit down,” she orders me.

  I sit down on the bed and she takes the crutches from my hands. Without a word between us, she finishes pulling my pants off and my shirt up and her hands start caressing my shoulders and chest.

  She looks at me in awe and pride fills me. “I wondered what you would look like—I mean, I imagined, but goodness, Rancher, nothing could have prepared me for this.”

  My hands go to her hips and I squeeze them. She has thick thighs and the image I’ve had in my head was of me bending her over and taking her from behind. But that can’t happen, at least not today.

  “I need to see you, too, honey,” I tell her and start pulling at her clothes.

  She makes fast work of taking them off and when she’s standing before me with not a stitch of clothes on, I moan at her perfection. Her curvy body is everything I imagined it would be, but better.

  “You’re beautiful, Nova.” I stroke my hands across her chest, rolling her hard nipples between my thumb and forefinger. I pull her face up to look at me. “Honey, you’ll have to be on top, but I promise to make it up to you later.”

  She smiles understandingly. “Rancher, I don’t mind. I just want you.”

  I try to pull her up my body, but she stops me.

  Shaking her head side to side, she tells me, “Scoot back.”

  I do as she says. She climbs up and with her hand on my chest, she pushes me backward until my back hits the bed and my head is on the pillow. She positions herself between my legs and when I look down at her, my swollen, hard cock is sticking up between us. She smiles at me as she lowers her head and kisses the tip.

  My hips jerk at the contact. Her hair tickles my thigh and I move it out of her face so I can see her.

  She sticks her tongue out and strokes it up and down my shaft. Her warm wet mouth swallows my cock and she starts sucking me in, moving her head up and down. “Come around here, honey,” I say. “I want to taste you too.”

  She climbs over my legs and brings her lower body to where I can reach it with my hand. I touch her wet slit and stroke my fingers through her folds. Fuck, her cunt is warm and drenched. I slap her ass gently. “Climb up here, baby.”

  She pops off my cock and looks at me over her shoulder. “No, Rancher…”

  I swat her ass again and then rub it gently.

  “Michael, I want you to call me Michael. And don’t tell me no on this, baby. You know you want my mouth on you,” I urge her.

  She presses her ass into my hand but doesn’t do what I asked her to do.

  “I’m not sitting on your face, Michael,” she says and then puts her mouth back on my cock.

  I lift her leg up, the one closest to my head and pull her over me, until her wet pussy is sitting on my face and I’m breathing her in.

  I latch my lips to her swollen clit and she bucks against me.

  “Argh!” she moans with my cock in her mouth.

  I take my hands and spread her open, licking her until she’s bucking against me. Her thighs tighten around me but I don’t stop. I keep working her clit until her pussy heats up and she’s flooding me with her hot juices.

  “Michael, yes! Yes!” she hollers, thrusting against me.

  Her strokes on my cock are deeper and I’m passing the back of her throat with every thrust.

  “Nova!” I say to her, but she keeps sucking me in.

  “Nova!” I try again. “Turn around, baby, I don’t want to come until I’m buried deep inside you.”

  She moans and then her lips smack as she pulls off me. I help her move around until she’s straddling my hips. Rising up on her knees, she lines me up at her center and slowly slides down my shaft. Her tight pussy clenches on to me and I’m fighting the urge to come and I haven’t even pumped once.

  “Hold still, baby.” I grip her hips. “Just for a minute.”

  I unclench my eyes and look up at her. She’s a goddess sitting astride me, her perfect round breasts thrust out, her curvy stomach and thighs, damn, I can’t take it.

  “Ride me, Nova. Bounce on my cock,” I urge her, with my hands on her hips helping her lift up and down.

  She angles her hips to the left, then to the right, springing up and down. I squeeze her tightly, and for a minute, I wish I could roll her over and thrust deep inside of her like I want to. She leans backward with her hands on the bed and rides me, with my cock hitting her G-spot.

  “Yes, Michael, don’t stop. I’m coming. I’m coming.”

  I come then. I shoot my hot seed deep inside of her and grunt her name as I give her all I’ve got.

  When we both come down, her pussy is still pulsating around me with tiny vibrations.

  Hours later, when we are both so exhausted from another round, I hold her to me while she snores softly against my chest. Yeah, two weeks is not going to be enough.

  5

  Rancher

  I wake up the next morning and feel the bed next to me. It’s empty. I raise up and look around the room, but Nova is gone.

  I grab my crutches that are leaning against the nightstand and gingerly get out of bed.

  After taking a quick shower, I walk into the kitchen and find her standing by the big window, looking out on the ranch. The men are pulling out of the driveway and I realize that I must have slept really late this morning.

  Walking up behind her, I wrap my arms around her and pull her to me. She turns her head to the side to look up at me, and I kiss her lips. “Mornin’, honey.”

  “Morning. I thought I was going to have to come and wake you up. Your new physical therapist will be here any minute.”

  She kisses me once more and then goes to the oven and pulls out a plate of bacon and eggs. Setting them on the table, she tells me, “if you w
ant breakfast, you better eat. You don’t have much time.”

  As I sit down, she leans down and kisses my head, then tells me she’s going to get the living room ready.

  I eat quickly, not wanting to be away from her. I walk into the living room, slide onto the table and then lean the crutches against the couch.

  “Breakfast was good.”

  She smiles at me. “Thanks!”

  She’s laying out instruments, and I can’t resist teasing her. “So, is today’s therapist as hot as you?”

  She laughs. “Oh, hot. Definitely hot.”

  The doorbell rings and she smirks at me before she goes to open it. Something tells me there’s something up.

  When she walks back in, I figure out why.

  “Bruce, this is Rancher. Rancher, Bruce. He is your new therapist.”

  The man beside her is huge, probably the size of Brick. He’s smiling at me and cracking his knuckles. Something tells me I should be scared.

  “Well, I’m going to go shower,” she tells me before touching Bruce on the shoulder, “Be good to him, Bruce.”

  “Uh, uh, Nova. Get back over here,” I tell her.

  Later, I’m going to talk to her about touching other men, no matter how innocent it is. For now, I’m going to make sure I get that kiss before she leaves.

  She walks slowly over to the table with a worried expression. “You okay?” She must see my frustration and I try to relax the strained look on my face.

  “Yes, I’m fine. But I want a kiss before you leave,” I tell her, wanting to make sure that Bruce knows what’s up.

  “Rancher!” she gasps.

  I simply shrug my shoulders and pucker up.

  She bends over and kisses me briefly before turning to go out of the room. I don’t even see it, but I know her face is blood red.

  “So that’s how it is?” Bruce asks her with an approving smile on his face.

  She nods her head, looks at me over her shoulder and then back at Bruce. “Yep, that’s how it is.”