Page 6 of The Widow's Dom

Nick chuckled. “Dude, she was never yours to begin with. Stay the fuck away from her.”

Henry cursed, tore away from him, and ran.

Nick went back and sat down with his friends. He was glad he went with his instincts when he saw Janessa go down the hallway to the bathroom. Just a minute later, a man that had his gaze on the woman all night and followed her. Something was definitely wrong with him. When he saw how afraid she was, he wanted to smash the guy’s head into the wall.

His gaze kept going back to the woman. Lewis had told them her husband died a few years ago. The woman looked happy and like she was enjoying herself. It must have been hard to lose her husband that way.

When he was younger, he was married to a woman named Marci. It was when he went into the Navy. He’d come home one time on leave to find his wife had taken everything in the house, even the fire detectors and all the money he had deposited into the joint account. Every dollar he made since he enlisted right out of high school.

To say he was enraged was putting it mildly. The guys in his unit had calmed him enough to keep from finding the bitch because he guessed he would have lost it on her. He’d gotten a divorce as quickly as he could. Not long after the divorce, he wished he could wrap his hands around her neck when she called him, saying she was sorry and wanted him back. There was no way in hell he’d ever take that chance again.

After they left the military, his unit had taken private sector jobs to make money since none of the men had anyone special waiting for them at home. They had all been in the same unit overseas and had grown close, so their staying together had been a logical decision. When Jake talked about his and his cousin’s hometown, Nick listened. His father had been in the service, so Nick had never stayed in one place for more than a few years and hadn’t been able to put down roots. His mother had died when he was young, which made it harder to establish any kind of home when they moved. Jake’s cousin’s town sounded like it was a place where he could make his home and start his ranch. The rest of the guys in his unit were thinking of staying, too.

For the time being, Nick was renting a condo with another guy until he found the acreage he wanted to start a small horse-breeding operation. The other guys in his unit were looking into starting a business together. As long as they were nearby, he was happy. They’d become his family after his father had died. There were no grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, or cousins.

Nick watched as Janessa left with Lewis and Natalie. At least he knew she would get home safe. He’s seen them when they first arrived, and it had been impossible to tear his eyes away from Janessa. He had wanted her before he ever knew her. The look on her face when she was dancing enthralled him. He could feel her happiness, and the way she moved her hips made sitting uncomfortable. His cock had been hard since she walked through the door, and it just got worse the more he saw of her.

When she was introduced to them, he sensed she was feeling something by the way she wouldn’t look him in the eyes. He guessed it wasn’t fear of violence but of a dominant male in her presence that she found attractive. He caught the flutter of the pulse in her neck, the blush that covered her face, her nipples as they pressed against her shirt, and the way her eyes dilated when she looked at him.

The guys had ribbed him after she walked away, and a few were disappointed that they didn’t have a chance at her. All they had to do was look at Nick and know he’d set his sights on her, and after the introduction, they knew she wanted Nick, too.

He just had to figure out how they could spend time together.

Chapter Five

A few days later, Nick pulled up to a new Morton building. It was very large, and part of it looked like it was a home for the guy who lived there. He’d been given the guy’s name because he had contacts that Nick would be able to use.

There was a huge barn farther back, corrals, and fenced-in fields as far as he could see. It was a beautiful area. Trees were scattered around, giving the animals shade in the summer heat and blocking the wind when it got cold. He counted a dozen horses that he could see and knew there were more from the sound of it.

“Hey, can I help you?”

Nick turned to see a young man. He was younger than he expected, but that didn’t deter him in the least. He’d been fighting and killing people in a war when he was this age. He walked over to where he stood just inside the building and held out his hand. “I’m Nick Mendoza, Lewis gave me your name.”

“Yeah, he called to tell me about you. I’m Shane. You’re thinking of starting a ranch around here?”

“Yes. I’ve got a few horses being boarded the next town over, and I’m living in a condo until I find a place to buy. There are several I’m looking at right now.”

“What do you need from me?”

“Lewis said you have a lot of contacts I might be able to use. I know very few people here and am just starting to build my ranch. I’ve never had a chance to because I was overseas, but I’m done with that.”

“Of course,” Shane said and smiled. “We help each other out in this community.”

“That’s what I’ve heard. It was one of the factors I liked about this area,” Nick said.

“Come on in, and I’ll write down a few people. What are you thinking of doing?”

“Breeding quarter horses. I’ve got a stud that will give me some good foals.”

“We’ll have to talk about that. I won’t be breeding as much as training them to work cattle,” Shane said.

Nick smiled as they walked back outside and stood in the shade. “I can see us working together a lot.”

Both men turned when they heard a horse flying across one of the fields.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Shane said.

“What?” Nick asked.

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