Authors: Kortny Alexander
Dalton heard his brothers come up behind him. Dillon touched her knee and Denver stroked her shoulder.
“Let us take you home where you belong. You’re just a little shaken up.” Dalton paused for a few moments, and then continued. “Are you ready, baby?” He watched as she shook her head yes. That was all he needed.
His brothers stepped back as Dalton stood, helped Summer from the car and scooped her up in his arms. She instantly buried her face in his shoulder. Denver grabbed her purse and cell phone as Dillon led the way back to their truck. Dalton knew they would have to do a better job of protecting her. This was unacceptable. His last thought was that whoever this was, he was going to fucking die.
* * * *
“Just got off the phone with Bo and Spring,” Denver said as he grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. He and his brothers had agreed to gather in the kitchen. “I reassured Spring that Summer was doing fine now that we got her home.”
“Yeah, she’s fine
now
. We fed her, bathed her, and I tucked her into bed. She was just shaken up. I think if she hadn’t started talking by the end of the night I was going to call Piper and have her check Summer out,” Dillon added.
Piper was the doctor in the family, Bo’s sister, and married to the sheriff. Dillon was grateful they didn’t have to call Piper. Summer had finally started talking and laughing and agreed that she needed to sleep, but not before she repeated everything that had occurred on the road earlier.
Dalton walked into the kitchen. “I just got off the phone with the sheriff. I told him everything Summer told us. It seems whoever’s driving this red Camaro might have gotten away without a scratch. But we’re going to find that fucker. If he was a real man, he’d approach one of us face to face instead of scaring the hell out of Summer.”
Dillon agreed with his brother, but things were not going to be easy with Summer. “Hmmm, I have just one thought. How do you intend on keeping Summer from leaving the house? You can’t ground a grown woman. She’d hit the roof if we demanded she stay home. Personally, I’m not in the mood to fight her. I don’t want Summer upset.”
Dillon was the peacekeeper between the three of them. He wouldn’t dare command Summer to stay inside. She was an outdoor type of person. She’d defy them just because they told her she couldn’t do something. He was not in the mood for a battle.
“You know what? I will give Daisy a call and see if she’d ask Summer to help her out with the horse lessons tomorrow. That should occupy Summer most of the day.”
All three agreed with that suggestion. Hopefully Summer would agree with it as well.
Chapter 11
Day 4
Dalton watched on the monitors with smug satisfaction and conflicting irritation as Summer pranced her naked ass through his house. He was working from home today to keep an eye on her. He had heard her mention that her temporary stay with them was cramping her style but he had no idea she was talking about
this
.
He knew the moment he met her six months ago he had to steer clear of her. But that was not going to happen for several reasons. Summer’s sister was now married to his cousin. Summer was given an offer she couldn’t refuse—a position with his family’s real estate development firm as their landscape engineer. Of course Summer accepted it, as long as she had time off to relocate to Whispering Mountain from Boulder. Dalton and his two brothers had offered her a place to stay while she found a house of her own in town.
Everywhere he turned she was there. He smelled her apple-scented bodywash and lotion—it lingered throughout the house. Her skin, her body, looked good enough to eat. It resembled the color of almonds and it taunted Dalton in his dreams. And now he was looking at her completely nude, curvaceous body, and his cock had never been harder.
“Dammit!” He groaned as he attempted to adjust his dick, unable to look away from the monitors; he was drawn to her. Sitting there, he had already decided he wouldn’t have babysitting duty again. He didn’t think he could take another day of being tortured by the nude sexy strides Summer made from her bedroom to the kitchen. The sun damn near gleamed off of her almond-colored skin while she was bopping to nonexistent music and drinking a glass of water.
Dalton was getting pissed.
Why?
Oh, yeah, he knew the answer to that one. He was pissed because of his reaction to her. His body clearly failed him. Pissed because Summer was causing the reaction. He was an idiot about to make an idiot move and he couldn’t stop himself. He would cut her off on her way back to the bedroom. He would put a stop to this nude parading around that she seemed to love.
Pushing away from the desk, he moved silently through the office. He knew it was wrong to take his frustrations out on Summer, but he could not continue to watch her naked body on screen and not be able to touch her. She had the most delectable mouth he had ever seen on a woman. The way she smiled whenever one of his brothers told her a joke was nerve-racking. Oh, yeah, he had it bad, and now he was about to ruin any chance of being close to her.
“Why are you prancing that sweet naked little ass of yours around my house, Summer? Are you trying to entice one of my workers? Are you hoping that one of them or one of my brothers will catch a glimpse of you through one of the windows?” Dalton asked as he silently stepped up behind her. He mentally laughed when she screamed and stopped in her tracks just before she entered her bedroom. He felt her body tense and then slowly relax when she recognized his voice. He had snuck up on her on purpose.
So close. He was too close to her and yet he couldn’t step away just yet. The heat flowing from her body stroked his stiff cock as if it was her hand. She was naked and fucking gorgeous. “Or are you doing what you do best, wildfire? Teasing the three of us, flashing us glimpses of your nipples and your cunt knowing we won’t touch you.” Dalton was completely delusional and he was pissing her off in the process. He didn’t care.
He knew how to maneuver through his home without being heard and he had succeeded when he surprised Summer. Traipsing through his house naked as a jaybird singing and dancing her way through the kitchen, blinds wide open, and she had the audacity to be frightened that he had walked up on her. He knew she thought she was alone. This would make her think twice about the nudity.
For the past two days he had seen her walking around the house naked when she thought him and his brothers left to work the ranch. At least she thought the house was empty. Dalton stayed behind to do paperwork in his office but Summer didn’t notice nor did he tell her he was staying behind. She thought she had the house to herself. What would she have done if someone had stopped by unexpected? No one outside of his home was to see her naked. He was putting a stop to this nonsense.
Dalton could smell her bath soap. Apples. She smelled sweet.
Shit
. He would bet his life she tasted
sweet. Dalton stood behind her. Close, but not quite touching her body. He watched as she bowed her head and looked towards the floor as he spoke to her. Her breathing hitched and became shallow. She still didn’t move.
“Summer.” He lowered his voice, leaning closer to the shell of her ear but not touching her body. “I asked you a question.” Dalton watched as if by reflex as Summer tilted her head to one side, allowing him access to her neck. Allowing the heated moisture of his breath to caress her neck.
“I…” Summer cleared her scratchy throat, mouth suddenly dry, and began again. “I didn’t know anyone was home.” She clenched and released her hands at her side but she still didn’t move.
“That’s not the point, Summer.” Dalton paused for a moment, closing his eyes tight. He had to calm himself down before he fucked Summer right here in the hallway. It was against his rules.
She
was against his rules. But she was so damned tempting.
She looked so beautiful standing stark naked. Nothing hidden. She didn’t attempt to cover her body. He wanted to cup her ass, tease her clit until her folds became slick with her juices, suck on those sweet brown nipples, and watch her swallow his cock as no other woman has.
He needed to stop. His thoughts were erratic and his dick could pound bricks. Damn, she was killer on his senses.
“I–I’m sorry, Dalton,” she whispered. Her voice low and suddenly sensual.
He could smell her arousal.
Fuck!
He wanted to taste all of her sweet cream.
“Summer, please go into your room and put on some clothes. Don’t walk around my house naked like this again unless you want to get fucked. And I don’t mean in a
for her pleasure
type of way.” Dalton stalked off. He had to get out of there. Was she getting aroused by the sound of his voice? His proximity to her body? Heaven help him. He would bend her over where she stood if he didn’t walk away from her. He should have just stayed in his office and left her the fuck alone.
* * * *
As turned on as she had just been, Summer could feel the burn of the tears at the back of her eyes but she held them at bay. Dalton had the nerve to berate her as if she were a child. That was it? He had managed to turn her on with just a few words, get bitchy, and then leave.
Conversation over when Dalton says it’s over?
Summer was sick and tired of the hot and cold sides of Dalton Durden. In all her naked splendor, Summer turned around with hands on her hips and yelled his name.
“Dalton!”
That got his attention
.
The ferociousness in his eyes as he slowly turned to glare at her should have shaken her to the core, but it didn’t. He looked at her as if he was not used to someone yelling at him. Too damn bad! He looked at her as if it was normal for a woman to stand naked in the hallway. What was wrong with him?
Whatever!
“Why should it matter what I wear in your house? You don’t pay any attention to me. You barely talk to me. And it’s not just
your
house. Dillon and Denver live here too. But only you seem to treat me like shit! Only you seem to treat me like it’s killing you to let me stay here a few days while they finish the additions to my house. Only you seem to act as if the sight of me disgusts you. The workers don’t even come on this side of the property and you know it. No, I’m not trying to entice them, and no, I’m not trying to entice you or your brothers. I like walking around naked and I thought I was alone. But it won’t happen again. As a matter of fact, I will become invisible when you are around.”
Summer turned just as the first tear rolled down her face, stormed into her bedroom and slammed the door as hard as she could. Then she kicked it and screamed for good measure. What the hell had she gotten herself into?
She was four days into a seven-day stay. Of all the places she could have stayed, she had to make her life a little more intriguing by taking the three men she should have stayed away from up on their offer. Summer still wasn’t completely sure why she had accepted their offer. She did love the fact that she had access to the horse farm. She loved to ride horses. And she became instant friends with their sister Daisy who gave equestrian lessons to children.
Summer pushed away from the door when she finally heard the faint footsteps belonging to Dalton walking in the opposite direction of her bedroom. She breathed a sigh of relief as she got dressed. She had to get out of the house now that she knew Dalton was there.
Dillon and Denver had obviously decided to pursue her. Things between the three of them were cut-and-dry. They wanted her and she wanted them. She had kissed and almost had sex outside while her sister sat a few yards away. Then she’d actually had sex with Denver and he had bathed her. No man had ever bathed her before. Even after the fiasco yesterday, Dillon had taken care of her needs. It was clear to her that Dalton would never make his intentions that simple.
Summer knew she had problems when she met Dalton six months ago when she was in Las Vegas with her sisters. The moment she met him she wanted to have sex with him. She wanted to commit acts with him that you shouldn’t discuss in public. She wanted an all-night screaming fuck-fest with Dalton. His long, wavy dark brown hair had been highlighted by the sun, but she could not ignore the titillating gaze of his cobalt blue eyes. They burned her skin every time he looked at her. It was a slow burn every time he gazed at her. It started at her pussy and fanned out all over her body. And at that moment six months ago Summer treated Dalton like any crazed horny woman in denial would.
Summer treated Dalton just like a junior high crush. She turned to mush on the inside and treated him just like crap on the outside. She ignored Dalton. Kept her distance. She was utterly attracted to him but she couldn’t miss the obvious contradiction he represented. Dalton was tall, sexy, bold, outspoken, and held a woman’s attention. He screamed ultimate sexual pleasure. But his eyes. They were windows to his soul and Summer could clearly see the loneliness that peeked across the edges. Summer was not sure what had happened to him but something or someone had definitely hurt him.