Chapter Thirty-Nine
Her legs trembled. She'd need a minute, maybe an hour, before she could move again. He was still inside of her, and she was momentarily shocked at how he'd taken her. If his arm wasn't wrapped around her waist, Emily would slide to the floor.
He nuzzled her neck, her hair. "I love the way your hair smells." He emitted a low growl in the back of his throat, and turned her around.
She didn't mind really, the smug way his lips curved, when he curled a lock of hair around his finger, before sinking down into a kiss she supposed was to be quick and light. But he sank into it.
When he pulled back an inch, and then two, his eyes were a fine slit showing the whiskey colored twinkle behind long, dark lashes no man had a right to have. God, how she loved this man. The words jammed somewhere between her heart and head. She must have stiffened, as he traced his finger across her cheek.
"Stop thinking so much, Em."
He scooped her up; her arms around his neck.
"What about your priorities, the things you need to take care of?"
"I'm tending to them now." He didn't stop; he kept going and laid her on the bed. Her mind was going fuzzy. She wrapped her arms back around his neck, and said, "What about the ranch, the animals?"
"You're first, them later."
And it was much later indeed. Brad drove Emily to the sitter's to pick up Katy. He didn't dump them and run. He stayed, he played with Katy, teased Emily, and, before leaving, he kissed her thoroughly and properly, the way a woman should be.
Let the games begin. Except, this time, Brad had the rulebook. The sun had set when Brad parked in front of his house. He didn't move, but jingled the keys in his hand and stared at his house, his family's house, picturing the viper waiting behind the door. He understood Emily's ache, her pain. She never asked for any of this to happen. He almost lost her; he still could.
He slid out of his truck, shut the door and stopped on the bottom step. A man with a purpose, he headed toward the barn instead, where Cliff hunkered over some tack needing repairs.
"Hey, boss. Crystal was out here looking for you."
Brad put everything into each step. Maybe it was the fury on his face that had Cliff swallowing hard and backing away.
Brad bunched his fists as the fury stole over him. He wanted nothing more than to knock this man around. Instead, he looked away, stole a breath, and then another. "Just what the hell did you think you were doing, telling Jake to fire Emily?"
Cliff paled. He shifted from one foot to the other. "I didn't want to do it, boss, but Crystal told me you wanted her fired. She said you asked me to stop in and give him the message. I felt bad 'cause I like Emily, but she said it was better to be done in person and you expected me to handle it for you."
"Are you kidding me? For fuck sakes, Cliff, that's the dumbest thing I think I've ever heard come out of your mouth. Try again. Because I somehow can't believe you'd think I'd relay a message like that through Crystal. And why didn't you have the fucking balls to come to me to find out what the hell was going on." Brad knew Cliff was smarter than that. His vibes poked the back of his neck. These were half-truths and he hated that bullshit.
"Before I toss your sorry ass off this ranch, I want to know something. Have you been telling Crystal what's been going on here at the ranch?" Cliff's cheeks suddenly took on a nice rosy hue. Guilty! Brad let loose a solid right jab that connected with Cliff's lip, his jaw, knocking him down.
Cliff swiped away the blood trickling from his mouth, and then touched the newly loosened tooth.
Brad reached down and grabbed Cliff's coat front, yanked him off the ground and dragged him out of the barn, giving him a hard push toward the staff house in back. "You've got twenty-four hours to pack up and get off my property or, I swear to God, I'll kill you with my bare hands and make damn sure your body's never found."
Brad forced himself to stay where he was as Cliff stumbled to the small white-frame house he shared with Mac.
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