Hang Tough (11 page)

She exhaled.

Was it only yesterday that he'd kissed her for the first time? Now he craved how warm and smooth the inside flesh of her bottom lip felt against the tip of his tongue. Now he knew how hot and fast her exhalations were against his mouth.

Tempting to start out with sugar bites, sweet kisses, slowly savoring her until that moment when need and hunger asserted control.

“Tobin?” she said softly. “What are you doing?”

“Memorizing you.”

“Why?”

Tobin forced his gaze back to hers. “Because when I close my eyes at night, I want to recall with perfect clarity every nuance of this face.”

The interest that flared in her eyes was all the permission he needed.

He brushed his lips across hers. Once. Twice. On the third pass he lingered. The soft flesh tasted like champagne and raspberries. But that was just on the surface. He needed more.

As soon as he slipped his tongue in, Jade opened her mouth to him fully.

Somehow Tobin kept the kiss easy, not devouring her. Allowing her to explore, even as he did the same.

Their bodies migrated closer.

Jade's hand clutched the back of his shirt.

He kept his hand on her face, continuing to sweep his thumb across her jawbone, while he mimicked the motion with his left hand on her hip.

Just when he felt the heat between them expand, Jade broke the kiss.

She rested her forehead on his chest and took long, deep breaths.

Tobin pressed his lips to her temple. Then he nudged her head back and planted kisses down her cheek and over to her ear. Every time he exhaled, she shuddered. He homed in on her earlobe, flicking the tender skin in a carnal preview of his tongue tasting the sweet spot between her thighs. Closing his eyes, he followed the arc of her throat with his nose, breathing in the scent of her heated skin.

That spicy floral scent shot straight to his cock.

“Tobin.”

“Shh. Let me.”

“Let you . . . what?”

“Learn what you like.”

He learned using his teeth made her break out in gooseflesh.

He learned she purred when he pressed soft-lipped kisses below her ear.

He learned sucking the spot above her collarbone sent her body arching hard against his.

The front door slammed.

He learned there was no way they were ever truly alone.

“You have
got
to be fucking kidding me.”

Jade stepped back. Her eyes were glazed. Her lips were swollen. She didn't look well kissed; she was halfway to looking well fucked.

“One day soon I'll get to kiss you and touch you without your grandma interrupting us.”

“Sorry. Stay here. I'll be right
back.”

“J
ade?” her grandmother called out.

Jade hustled out of the sitting room and into the living room before GG busted them. “I didn't expect you back so soon. How was your night?”

“Crappy.” GG plopped on the sofa. “I'm too pooped to even pour myself some bubbly.”

Good thing. All the drink stuff was still out in the kitchen, along with two champagne glasses.

Both she and Tobin had been a little reckless tonight.

“Sometimes it's better not to listen to your friends,” her grandma announced.

“Is that why you had a crappy night?”

“Yes. Don't ever go in halvsies with anyone on anything either.”

“Who are we talking about?”

“Pearl. She hogged the AR-15. I didn't get to shoot it one gol-durn time, which just makes me think I need my own.”

Jade nodded like that made perfect sense.

“I need to apologize to you.”

“Why would you need to apologize to me?”

“I got to thinking . . . I've been a terrible hostess. Here you are
visiting me and I've left you to entertain yourself. We haven't even gone out for a drink or supper.”

“That's all right. I know you have a life here, GG. I'm used to entertaining myself.” The times she'd spent with Tobin had been beyond entertaining.

“My life of late . . . ain't really been all that fun, to be honest. So I've decided that you and me are gonna make our own fun by taking a road trip to see the sights!”

“Really? When are we going?”

“First thing tomorrow morning. And we aren't planning nothin'. We'll just go where the blacktop takes us.”

“You must have some idea of what sights you want to show me.”

“I'd love to take you to Jackson, where I raised your dad and spent my married years. But shoot, this time of year it's overrun with tourists, so we'll save that for another time. Maybe in the fall when the aspen leaves are changing and the wildlife is out, getting wild during mating season.”

“What are the other options?”

“Yellowstone is at least a weeklong trip if you wanna see the good stuff, so that's out too. I'm thinking we could head over to Devils Tower outside of Sundance. Then head up to Sheridan and take a short tour of the Bighorn Mountains. Beautiful country up there. We'd be gone two days. Of course, you'd have to drive. Them twisty mountain roads ain't for the faint of heart.”

Jade didn't have the guts to admit they might be better off with GG behind the wheel.

“What say you, girlie? Wanna have an adventure with your old granny while you still can?”

“You're not old. And yes, I'd love to have an adventure with you.” Getting out of the house and seeing the wide-open spaces of Wyoming would be good for her. Plus, she and GG always had a great time on vacation. “What should I pack? Evening gowns? High heels?”

“Oh, you.” She flapped her hand. “You've never been the designer-label, live-for-shopping kind of girl.”

“Much to my mother's dismay,” Jade said wryly.

“Gwen does love her clothes, purses and ankle-breaking shoes. I'm grateful she didn't push that on you, sweetheart. She let you be your own person.”

“Not that I know who that person is,” Jade said softly.

Naturally GG heard it. “That's what this trip is supposed to be about.” She frowned. “The part that's not the spying-on-me-and-reporting-to-your-dad part. The time-off-from-your-regularly-scheduled-life part.”

Jade bit her lip.

“I know that anxious look. Spit it out.”

“Will I ever be able to crumple up my to-do lists and my compulsion to accomplish something and just . . . learn to wing it?”

GG patted her leg. “That's what we're goin' to find out. So here's the deal. I'll bring my cell phone for an emergency, but besides that? No technology. No GPS. We'll use a good-old-fashioned map. We won't even listen to the radio. We'll leave the windows down and listen to nature. And sweetheart, I won't even allow you to bring a notebook and a pen along, so you can't make a single list.”

She laughed.

“Sometimes you gotta force a change. Other times the change happens naturally.”

“The forced change applies to me, doesn't it?”

“Nope. It's a mix of both for you.” She stood and stretched. “My arms are sore from the shooting range. I'm gonna soak in the tub before I hit the hay. But first I probably better track Tobin down and tell him we'll be gone a few days. Do you know where he is?”

That's when Jade remembered she'd left him hiding out in the sitting room after their hot and heavy make-out session he promised they'd finish.

“His truck is parked out front,” GG said.

“I think he went to bed after he came home.”

“It'll have to wait until morning then.” GG pulled her in for a hug. “Looking forward to sing-alongs with my road trip partner.”

“Me too.”

“See you bright and early in the morning.” She shuffled down the hallway.

As soon as the door to GG's bedroom closed, Tobin exited the sitting room.

“I'm sorry—”

“No worries. If I needed to escape, I could've crawled through the window.” He smirked. “Seems to be a theme with you.”

Jade twisted her ponytail around. “You'll have two days alone here to remind yourself that I'm not worth the trouble.”

The next thing she knew, Tobin loomed over her and his mouth crashed down on hers.

Sweet heaven could this man kiss.

When he finally stopped tormenting her with his skilled lips and the steady pressure of his body against hers, she was light-headed. Her panties were soaked again.

“You're more than worth the trouble, Jade.” His callused fingertips skimmed her cheek. “I'll miss you. But I know you and Miz G will have a great time. You both deserve a break. We'll talk when you get back.”

Jade's absence for two days left Tobin in a sour mood.

When she'd finally gotten back last night, he'd barely rated a kiss before she'd gone to bed.

Tobin's chores didn't take all that long, so despite his crappy mood, he stuck with his plan to drive to the ranch he'd grown up on, outside of Saratoga.

With part of their acreage made up of forested sections, they'd leased
rights for guided hunting groups on their land. Strange to think that's how he'd ended up at the Split Rock originally; his dad had broken his foot and had volunteered Tobin in his place as a guide. Since the hunting party had filled all their tags within the first five hours, he'd expected it to be a one-shot deal. Then Renner invited him back to the Split Rock to celebrate a successful venture. They'd started talking and before the end of the night Renner had offered him a job, including a place to live.

Tobin hadn't asked why the Split Rock started using another location for their guided hunts, but his dad had bugged him about it plenty the first two years.

The scenery whizzed past without him really seeing it, and time dragged as it always did. Almost two hours had passed when he pulled up to the front of the house. Four dogs raced from beneath the shade of the porch to greet him.

The screen door squeaked and his dad and oldest brother Driscoll wandered out.

“Well, well, look what the dogs got treed,” his brother joked.

“Yeah, treed all right. They might do some serious damage to me with all these wagging tails,” Tobin said dryly.

“Surprised to see you,” his dad said.

Tobin shrugged. “I had the afternoon off so I thought I'd see what's up around here. Plus I wanted to get my twenty gauge.”

“Whatcha gonna do with the twenty?”

“Just take it to skeet shoot.”

“I heard they had a new range in Rawlins,” Driscoll said. “Open, so's anyone can come in and shoot.”

“Better that than payin' club fees, I reckon,” his dad said.

Tobin scaled the steps. “Where's Streeter?”

“Baby is sick again. I swear that kid gets the sniffles and he runs her to the doctor.”

“Gotta be hard, not knowing what's serious and what's not. I expect the older she gets the better handle he'll have on it.”

“Meantime, I'm doin' his work as well as my own,” Driscoll complained.

Tobin stared at his oldest brother. They looked nothing alike. Driscoll had been an early adopter of the mountain man look—he'd had a full beard for as long as Tobin could remember. He'd gotten decidedly more barrel shaped over the years too.

“I gotta git. See ya, Dad.” Driscoll nodded at him. “Tobin.”

“Later.”

Driscoll whistled and two of the dogs jumped in the cab of the pickup. The other two dogs chased the pickup down the driveway.

“C'mon in. I'll grab that shotgun and you can tell me why you're really here.”

Tobin followed his dad inside and waited while he retrieved the gun.

“Here it is.” His dad lowered into a chair and set a bulky item in an old blanket on the kitchen table. “What's goin' on?”

“It'll sound pretty random, I'm sure. This buddy of mine . . . his family isn't bein' up front about why they've suddenly decided to move his grandma into an assisted living place. She seems okay to take care of herself; there's been no forgetful-type stuff. That reminded me of Grandma Alma. One day she seemed fine, the next you were saying she needed to be looked after. As I kid I didn't understand. Now I wondered if you hadn't told me the whole story. Maybe she had cancer or something.”

“Is that what this buddy of yours thinks? His grandma has a disease that his family ain't telling him about?”

“Yeah. Like I said, it got me to thinking.”

“That was a long time ago with your grandma. It was one of the few times your mother and I fought, god rest her soul.”

That surprised him. “You fought about that?”

“Yep. The guy who ended up buying her place gave her a damn fine
offer. She said she wasn't ready to be put out to pasture. But she didn't realize an offer like that wouldn't come along again. So I went ahead and accepted it on her behalf.”

“When she told you she didn't want to move?” he said sharply.

His dad squirmed in his seat. “Ma was a great wife and homemaker but she didn't have a head for business. She couldn't see beyond next week's ladies' aid meeting or the spring seed catalogs. I paid all her bills, so she wasn't aware of the spike in propane costs, insurance, taxes and the increases in the cost of living.”

So it was easier to lock her away and let her fucking die than explain that to her?

“I made the decision for her, like I'd been making most of them for her after my dad passed on. Your mom said my duty to her wasn't an inconvenience. She even went behind my back and asked your grandma if she wanted to live with us. Course, my mom refused. Said she preferred bein' a burden to strangers who were getting paid a pretty penny to care for her than to the family who didn't see her worth. It was ugly. I still say she willed herself to die to spite me.”

It had played out exactly as he'd seen it as a kid; his dad had sold her home and shoved her someplace where he wouldn't have to deal with her. “That's not something I'll tell my buddy because that's his nightmare scenario.”

“It wasn't the easiest decision to make,” his dad retorted.

As much as Tobin wanted to ask what his dad had done with the money from the sale of Grandma's place, he already knew. Most of it went to pay for her nursing home care. And the next year he got a brand-new tractor.

Tobin stood and grabbed the gun. “Yeah, well, I'm sure it won't be an easy decision for us to make either, when the time comes.”

That startled his dad, as if it just occurred to him that he'd be beholden to his sons' decisions the way his mother had been beholden to his.