Authors: Ciana Stone
darkness and swim in the passion of their depths.
It took Chase longer than he was comfortable with to rein in the raw need that sang
in his veins. “You did all this?” He gestured around the barn.
“Yep.”
“By yourself?”
“Well, Cody helped.” She gestured toward the dog, stretched out on a clean pile of
straw, snoozing. “Poor thing wore himself out.”
Chase chuckled. “Yeah, I can tell.”
“So we can ride now?” she asked. She was eager to get on West Wind’s back, ride
off some of the pent-up energy.
“Uh, you might want to clean up a bit first,” he suggested. Even from across the
barn he could smell the horse shit on her.
“Oh, yeah.” She looked down at herself. “I am a mess. Okay, give me ten minutes.”
She ran out of the barn and to the well-house. She’d noticed a hose looped on the
side of the structure, as well as a bar of soap. By the time Chase rounded the corner of
the well-house, she had the hose held over her head with her face turned up to it.
The sight was enough to make him groan. Now that tank top clung to her in near
transparency, the water running in rivulets down her body to all the hidden places he
wanted his hands, mouth and dick to be.
Ana straightened and shook her head as she lowered the hose. That’s when she saw
Chase. A split second later a mischievous grin split her face and she turned the hose on
him.
“Shit!” He held up his hands to ward off the spray, but it was too late. Squealing
and dancing around, she drenched him head to toe.
“All right, you asked for it.” He went after her, wrestling for control of the hose
while both of them got wetter in the battle.
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Chase ‘n’ Ana
Ana laughed and squirmed as he wrested control of the hose from her, and held her
with her back to him with one arm, drenching her and himself even more. “Uncle!” she
gasped between laughs. “I give, I give!”
Chase released her and she turned to face him. The smile on her face transformed
into a look that had him reaching for her again, this time to pull her to him for a kiss
that was hot enough to boil the water.
Ana gave herself over to the kiss, exulting in the riot of sensations rocketing
through her body. When he drew back and looked down at her with eyes smoldering
with desire, she tossed caution to the wind, grabbed his shirt and ripped it open,
sending buttons flying.
Her hands started on his chest, moving over the wet flesh, squeezing and stroking
their way down his rippled abdomen. By the time her hands reached for the buckle of
his belt, her mouth was on his skin, licking, sucking and tasting him from chest to navel.
Chase hauled her back up as her tongue worked its way toward the waist of his
jeans. With one swift move he grabbed her tank top, yanked it over her head and lifted
her with one arm to latch onto a hard nipple. Ana moaned, fisted her hands in his wet
hair and arched back, pressing her breast harder against his mouth, wanting more of
the sublime sensation that was cascading down from her nipple to her belly and then
lower into her sex, making her throb with need.
She climbed on him, securing herself to him by wrapping her legs around his waist,
pressing her sex against him. His free hand moved beneath her to hold her up by the
ass, squeezing her flesh and pulling her against him tighter. Their lips met, hot and wet,
each vying for dominance.
They were so caught up in each other that neither heard the truck stop in front of
the house, or the men get out. It was not until a rowdy yell came from the barn that they
realized they were not alone. Chase was concentrated on Ana’s left nipple and the feel
of her pumping her sex against him.
Chase raised his head from Ana’s breast and turned, still holding her aloft. There
stood his brothers, all three of them, grinning like hyenas and cheering.
“Shit on a stick,” he cursed and lowered Ana to the ground. She cupped her breasts
with her hands, watching curiously. “What the hell are you no-accounts doing here?”
Chase asked as the men approached.
“Just paying a call on our bro,” one of them, the youngest, replied, grinning at
Chase then giving Ana an appreciative once-over. “Aren’t you gonna introduce us?”
Chase blew out his breath. “Ana, these are my brothers, Caleb, Clay and Cole.
Fellas, this is Ana Stillwater.”
Caleb, the one who’d spoken, stepped forward first with his hand extended. “Caleb
Russell, ma’am. Pleased to meet you.”
Ana looked from his extended hand, to her own hands cupping her breasts and
laughed. “Nice to meet you, Caleb.” She looked at the twins. “And who is who here?”
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Cole stepped forward. “I’m Cole. The good-looking one.”
“You mean the knucklehead.” Clay bumped Cole aside. “Clay Russell, at your
service, ma’am.”
“Nice to meet you…all.” She nodded with a smile. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll
go finish cleaning up.”
She cut Chase a look. His expression was like a thundercloud. Clearly he was not
happy to see his brothers. She did not understand why, but wasn’t disposed to hang
around and find out. The testosterone in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife.
Chase nodded at her and she hurried to the house.
“Well, well,” Cole addressed Chase. “Big brother’s got himself a new filly.
Surprised to see her here, though. Thought this place was off-limits to your women?”
Chase did not respond, but bent over to turn off the water that was creating a nice
river at his feet. “You got a reason for showing up?”
“Actually we just wanted to see if it was true,” Clay answered.
“What was true?”
“Well, the way I hear it, you ran some filly down in town, sat beside her hospital
bed all night then brought her home with you,” Caleb said. “Rumor has it that you’re
scared she’ll sue you for running over her and are trying to charm her into letting you
off the hook.”
“And it looks like you were doing a fair to middling job of it, from what I saw,”
Cole added.
Chase blew out his breath in frustration. He should have known better than to hope
word would not get around of what happened. “Blow it out your ass, Cole. Yeah, I did
hit her. But it was an accident. And she never threatened to sue. She just fell on some
hard times and I’m trying to help her out ‘til she gets back on her feet.”
“Looks like she ain’t the only one on hard times,” Caleb jested. “From what I saw.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter, boy!” Chase snapped. “What you saw was
supposed to be private. And I expect you to keep it to yourself. You get my drift?”
Caleb backed off and backed up a step. “No need to get riled, Chase. Just funning
with you. I won’t say anything.”
“You better hope you don’t,” Chase warned and looked at the twins. “That goes for
you, too. I find out you’ve shot your mouth off to Charlie, and you and me are gonna go
‘round. You get me?”
“Hey, chill!” Cole lifted his hands, palms out. “We aren’t going to say anything,
Chase. Just chill.”
“Fine.” Chase backed off a bit. Normally when his brothers gave their word it was
solid. “So why are you here?”
“Wanted to find out if you wanted to go up to Canyon Lake for a couple of days of
camping?”
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Chase ‘n’ Ana
“Sorry, got too much to do. But you boys have fun. I got to change.”
“Well, maybe it isn’t a good idea anyway,” Caleb said behind Chase’s back. “You
know Charlie will be fit to be tied if we all duck outta work. Why don’t we just hang
out here with Chase, drink some brew and chill.”
Chase stopped dead in his tracks and turned. “That’s not a good idea.”
“Why not? We’re already here and we’ve got plenty of beer. Besides since Miss
Ana’s just a friend you’re helping out, I might like to get to know her better myself.”
“Oh shit!” Cole muttered as Chase advanced on Caleb in long, determined strides.
“You listen up.” Chase looked down at his brother, who was a half a head shorter.
“All of you.” His hard eyes raked all three of the brothers. “She’s off-limits. You got
that?”
“You already staked a claim on that, have you?” Cole, being the farthest away, felt
bold enough to ask.
Chase realized his blunder. Now there was no way out. “Yeah.” He met Cole’s eyes
with a look hard enough to drive in nails. “I have.”
“Hey, no problem,” Cole replied. “Right, boys?”
“Absolutely,” Clay agreed while Caleb gave a vigorous nod in the affirmative.
“Good.”
“So we can hang out?” Caleb asked and winced when Chase gave him a look
annoyed enough to have a non-related man backpedaling.
“Fine, do whatever you want,” Chase relented. “I’m going to change.”
“Cool,” Caleb grinned. “Meet you on the back porch with cold brewskies in ten.”
Chase threw up one hand as he walked to the house. The way things were going, he
was never going to get to satisfy the itch he had for Ana.
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Chapter Eight
Thanks to his brothers ending up spending the entire day and half the night,
Chase’s chances to get Ana alone were slim to none. The following two days he was
busy with ranch chores, and obligations to Charlie to help him purchase several mares
and a stallion Charlie had been itching to own.
He was looking forward to time at home, alone with Ana. But when he pulled up in
the driveway and saw Caleb’s truck he saw that wish go wafting out the window.
Inside he found his brothers and Ana in the den. She was sitting on the floor with
funny-looking cards spread on a cloth in front of her.
“You’re home!” She beamed up at him. “Your brothers want us to go out with
them. Is that okay?”
It was far from okay, but Chase didn’t have the heart to say so. “Sure,” he agreed.
“But right now I need a shower and some food.”
“Dinner’s almost ready,” she said with a grin. “I made you a meatloaf.”
Chase nearly groaned. Ana was a whiz when it came to vegetable dishes but made
a disaster out of cooking any kind of meat.
“Don’t worry, Clay brought me a recipe from Miss Clara and I followed it to the
letter.”
That didn’t inspire Chase with confidence, but he didn’t voice the thought. Instead
he showered, dressed, and when he emerged from his room, followed his nose to the
source of the delicious smell and found everyone in the kitchen.
All of his brothers were helping Ana. Cole was setting the table, Clay was dishing
the food into serving bowls, and Caleb was pouring tall glasses of iced tea, while Ana
was setting a vase with cut wildflowers in the middle of the table.
Chase stopped in the doorway for a few moments just to watch. Everyone was
talking and laughing and working together, just like a family. Or like he’d always
dreamed a family would be. He let himself indulge in a small fantasy that maybe one
day his family could always be like this. Then Ana spotted him and pulled out his chair
at the table.
“Dinner is served, sire,” she said with a smile and curtsy.
“Smells good,” he said as he took a seat.
“Keep your fingers crossed that it tastes as good as it smells,” she replied.
Everyone sat down, served their plates and dug in. Chase sampled the meatloaf
with trepidation. Ana watched him nervously. When he looked at her in surprise, she
grinned. “Good?”
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Chase ‘n’ Ana
“You bet. This is great, Fancy.”
That brought a smile to her face that Chase wished he could frame. Her eyes
sparkled and face glowed with happiness. He didn’t think he’d ever known anyone
who got that much pleasure out of something as simple as fixing an edible meatloaf.
But then, it had become abundantly clear to him, that there was no one in the world like
Ana Stillwater.
The dinner talk was of ranch business, horses, rodeos and the night’s entertainment.
Ana seemed as excited as a kid who was being taken to the county fair. When they
finished eating, they all pitched in to clean up, then Ana disappeared into the bathroom
to get ready for the evening.
Chase and his brothers retired to the den to wait. Thirty minutes later, Ana stepped
out into the den and did a slow twirl. She stopped, looking at the three men
expectantly. “Well?” she asked.
“Good lord and a quarter, let’s take this woman to town!” Clay grinned.
“You’re wearing that?” Chase asked at the same time, earning raised eyebrows
from his brothers and Ana.
“Excuse me?” Her hands went to her hips. “What’s wrong with it?”
Chase knew he’d stepped in it, but damn it all, when he let his brothers talk him
into them all going to one of their favorite hangouts to introduce Ana to the mechanical
bull and country karaoke, he had not imagined that she would dress for the event in
something that made his dick jump up and salute.
Her denim skirt was low on the hips and high on the thighs, soft and worn so that it
clung smoothly to all the right places. Her top was a buttery-soft suede halter that
dipped to a point just above her navel, like an arrow pointing to the small silver belly
ring. It scooped low at the neckline with two thin strips of leather that attached to the
bodice and circled her neck. Fringe with beads, feathers adorned the neckline and hem,