Page 17 of Unexpected Sweetheart
“Yes,” I gasp, my arousal reaching my inner thigh. “And I don’t care if you’re thirty-nine and struggling to make ends meet. All the things you seem to think matter, don’t matter to me. I just want you, Ryan. And I’m throwing myself at you, over and over again because I know that this is something you want too. You just have to let go, give in to it.”
A rumble sounds from deep within his chest and he stalks forward, and I don’t know why, but I step back, my nerves getting the better of me. He smirks then stops. “And what would happen, Lorelei? Let’s say I give you what you want, I lay you down and fuck you so hard those big tits of yours hit you in the face. Maybe we fuck some more. I eat you out. You suck me off. There’s a lot of screaming orgasms and body fluids exchanged. We’re satisfied, our lust finally sated, and then…” He narrows his blue eyes as he studies me further. “What happens after that? After you’ve gotten your fuck and I’ve made you feel like a woman. Then what? Do you stay here forever? Run the ranch with me? No money. No pretty things. Just hard work and eventual resentment for the life you gave up for this.” He grabs his cock again. “Is my losing control worth it, heiress? Because I promise you, if I do give in—if I fuck you—I won’teverlet you leave. I will own you. And then Iwilldo whatever I please. I would fuck you morning, noon, and night, and I wouldnevergrow tired.”
“I…” My entire body combusts, and I’m caught between coming where I stand and freaking out. The man is intense. It’s part of what I love about him, but when I’m naked, and he’s coming at me with his big dick and venom in his voice, I’m wondering if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. I shake my head, my confidence fading as he moves even closer, crowding me as my nerves get the better of me and I wrap my arms around myself and step back, hitting the wall and realizing there’s nowhere else to go. “Ryan.” I close my eyes and look away. Then I hear a whoosh of material and suddenly warm cotton is being dropped over my head. When I look up, Ryan is wearing only his undershirt, and it’s his T-shirt that’s dwarfing my body and covering my vulnerability.
“Cards on the table, Lorelei,” he says, as the hem of the shirt brushes against my thighs and the smell of him fills my nose. He wraps his fingers around my chin and tilts my head. “I do want you. I’m not gonna deny that. I wanted you as soon as I saw you get out of the limo in that ridiculous pink get up. But no matter how much you want me to. No matter how much you beg, I’m not going to take you.”
“Why?” I ask on a breath, my eyes burning because he’s literally all there is for me, all I can imagine, all I want.
He leans in and presses his lips against my forehead, a soft kiss combined with a deep inhale. “Because I don’t have anything to offer you.” With that, he releases me and steps away.
“I onlywantyou,” I say, my voice shaking as he reaches the door. He stops and turns back, a half-smile wan on his face.
“And I want you to go out into the world and live your big life. I’m not enough for you. This”—he looks around, gesturing to the house we stand in, the ranch on which it resides—“isn’t enough. And I’m not letting you give up your future for something I don’t even want.”
“Isn’t itmyfuture to decide?”
“No,” he says simply. “It’s my future too. And you know what? Maybe I will sell this place to developers because you’re right, I can’t control everything. Good night, Lorelei.”
“Good night,” I whisper as he closes the door, leaving me here hugging myself against the wall with my body shrouded in his scent, and the sensation of his kiss burned into my skin. Finally, I let my tears fall. For the first time in my life, I’m confronted with the reality that I can’t have everything I want. I guess that’s exactly why my father sent me here. I may not have learned the lesson the way he intended me to, but I learned it nonetheless, and I’ll feel it like a scar on my heart for the rest of my days.
Ryan
I’m an asshole. That’s pretty much all there is to it. That beautiful woman upstairs is handing me her heart, and I’m point blank refusing it, shoving it back in her face when a man with any kind of sense would be taking her to bed and treating her like the heiress—no, thequeen—she is.
If I were a better man, I would give up this ranch for her. I’d sell it to the first person willing to sign a check and take it off my hands. I’d follow her back to New York and work damn hard to prove myself worthy of being her king. She’d keep the life she was born into, and I’d keep the life I left Sweetheart and worked hard for. And bonus, I’d have her.
Not for her money.
No way. I don’t want a dime of the money her father uses to control her. I only want her for her sweet body and soft curves. I’d work in an office by day, diversifying pension funds and distributing resources in the most cost-effective way, and by night, I’d worship her from head to toe. Her ecstasy-filled screams would be my sustenance, and I would be a happy man, living the dream. My dream.
But that’s all it is. A dream. Because I’m not a better man at all. I’m this one.
I’m the guy who’s filled with regret, guilt, and shame. Because when I turned my back on my father, he never stopped seeing me as his son. I honestly thought that in the end, he’d leave this place to some charity or the favorite of his waywards, but instead, he left everything to me in a will he prepared not long after I left town.
Sure, the debt kind of cancels out his intentions, but the sentiment is there. He didn’t leave this place to meknowingit would bury me in debt. He died working himself to the bone trying to save it because he wanted me, his only son, to have the land I was born on, the land where my mother is buried, and now my father. I was too much of an asshole to see that despite the pain my leaving, and my refusal to join him in running the ranch, caused him, he considered me his greatest accomplishment.
He was proud of me.
I didn’t learn any of that untilafterhe was gone, after I was forced back here to fix his mess. In his belongings, I found printed papers, clipped articles, and emails filled with praise for all I’ve accomplished. To him, I was the greatest thing he ever did. And I’m angry with him for letting me go my entire life without saying any of that to my face. I’m angry for the absence of a relationship I craved. And I’m angry that all he left behind was a mismanaged ranch and a bucket-load of regret.I wish I’d known him better when he was alive.
And so, I remain. Hating the ranch, hating the position I’m in, but feeling unable to walk away until I know this place will be looked after by someone who loves the land as much as Dad did. It’s the only way I can appease the guilt I feel for turning my back on him all those years ago.
Stretching out in bed, I fold my hands behind my head, looking up at the ceiling as I let out a sigh. Lorelei’s probably up there crying herself to sleep. But I just can’t bring myself to give her what she wants. Spending several days on the ranch and pledging to stay here permanently are two very different things. With the way I’m feeling about her,obsessingover her, the only time I’m willing to spend with her is forever. And I’m not crazy enough to think an heiress can hang up her Louboutins and Chanel perfume for cowgirl boots and manure without losing interest real fast.
To her, the ranch is roughing it—a distraction. But to me, well, it’s quickly becoming all there is. It’s probably time I call Emma at A Plus Realtors and take it off the market,because let’s face it, no one is going to be good enough to carry on my father’s legacy. No one except…me.
Rolling over, I try to close my eyes and will my mind to quiet long enough to get some rest. But before I can even relax, a disturbed mooing has my eyes shooting open.
The heifers.
I was so caught up in my own head, I didn’t go out and check them before I went to bed.
Shooting out of bed, I pull on my jeans and a shirt and shove my feet into my boots, grabbing my coat as I fly out the door. Most calves are born without fanfare. I often find them sitting on the ground or suckling from their mother when I’m doing my rounds. But with the first time moms, there’s always a chance that things could go awry. And I don’t want to lose a calf during my first season back on the ranch.Jesus. I’m even thinking like this is permanent now.
My heart gallops in my chest as the mooing continues. It isn’t a good sign.
When I get to the paddock closest to the house, I find the heifer in trouble separated from the others. She’s moving around like she’s in distress, and from what I can see, it looks like she’s trying to push. But I don’t see any feet coming out of her, telling me that calf is near, so I need to get her into the calving shed to check her out.
