Patty's Homecoming, page 10
part #1 of Montana Wranglers Series
“Sounds good to me.” When they were outside of the barn, Patty wrinkled her nose and nodded. “Yes. God, I had that bastard coming up to me when I arrived. He’s such an asshole,” she muttered. “But he’s damn good with animals too.”
“Mm.” Corbin hummed softly. “He’s definitely an asshole and I don’t trust him. So be careful around him, Tisha. There is just something about him that, if I had them, would have my hackles rising. Every time he’s in a room, I find myself putting my back to a wall and keeping my eyes on him. Blake tells me it’s a predatory response to the enemy. Apparently his is similar but usually followed by a flashcard display in his head of ways to dismember Trevor slowly.”
“Oh don’t worry, I don’t intend on being alone near him anytime soon. I truly dislike him. He makes my skin crawl with the way that he looks at me,” she admitted to him. “He’s not a nice man in the least. If he weren’t so good with the stock I would ask Father to let him go.” Honest truth there. She didn’t want to interfere with anyone making a living but she couldn’t help herself with that man.
“Trust me on this one, babe. That man makes any sort of move toward you that you don’t like, no matter what, tell your dad. He’ll fire the asshole. We can find someone else to take care of the animals. But having you hurt, in any way, emotionally or physically, is unacceptable. Your father would tell you the same thing.”
“Oh, I know that, babe. Trust me, I know that. I will ensure that I will tell you if there are any issues. I swear to you.” She would never let anyone make her afraid, she would never allow anyone to give her a hard time either. This was her home, she would not let anyone give her trouble in her own home. Ever.
“Good,” he said lifting her hand. Pressing a kiss to her knuckles, he grinned. “God damn it, Tisha, I’m so happy you’re finally home, babe. It’s been much too long since you’ve been here last. Did he tell you”—Corbin jerked his head back toward the stables—“he was going to come looking for you to drag your ass back here?”
“Yeah, he did.” Patty ran her hands over Corbin’s arm and then took his hand with hers. “At least you know why I am back and what we are facing. Just know that no matter what, I love you. I was going to come back anyway,” she admitted. “I was in the process of setting people up to take over my business. This just moved me up in my timetable a bit more.”
“Well, on one hand I’m happy you’re home now, but on the other I really wish it was under better circumstances. But you have to know, no matter what, we’re not going to let anything happen to you, darling.” Swinging their joined hands lightly, he smiled. “Let that city slicker try anything and we’ll show him why country boys are just plain better all around.”
That had her grinning and she smiled. “You boys most definitely are better at just about everything.” She had been thinking of Blake and how he had made her scream only half an hour earlier. “And I can’t wait to see just how amazing you are as well. Think that maybe we can go to the house after the foal is born? I want to sleep in your guys’s arms and, while Dad might not have had a fit with Blake sleeping with me last night, I have a feeling he would go off the rails with both of you in my bed. I don’t care if we have to sleep on sleeping bags, I just want to be with you,” she added quietly.
“There are beds there, just nothing huge or a lot of anything else. So we won’t need to be sleeping on the floor. We might have to strap down, but I’m sure we’ll make a bed work.” Tugging her closer, he slipped an arm around her neck and pressed a kiss to her temple. “I just can’t get over the fact you’re back. And, if I may say so, Ms. Graymont, looking damned fine and sexy, too.”
Patty blushed at his compliment and looked up at him. “And you, you are looking damn fine, Mr. Franks. I think that you are looking sexy enough to lick, nibble, and eat.” She all but purred. “And I intend to do all of the above when we finally find a bed. Bruises and pains aside. I need you.” Pure and simple.
“Damn woman,” he said on a groan. “Thanks a lot, Tisha,” he muttered. “Now I have to walk into that house, in front of your father and the other guys, with a full-on, rock-hard erection. You will pay for that later, that I promise you.”
“When the bruises are all gone you are welcome to make my ass cheeks pink.” She teased him unmercifully. “How about we have a cuddle on the porch swing? That way you will have time to lose said hard-on and I can just simply have you holding me again. Total wins in my book.”
“All right, that I can do,” he said softly. Leading her up onto the porch, he let her move ahead of him toward the swing. Sitting down next to her, he wrapped his arm back around her shoulders, drawing her in closer. “I’ve missed doing this with you,” he said quietly.
“I’ve missed it as well.” When Patty curled into him, it seemed as if she had never really left his side. “I’ve missed all of this so much more than I can tell you,” she admitted. “I don’t think that I will ever be able to let this go again. When I have to go back to New York, I will want to take at least one of you with me.” She knew Corbin hated to fly and added with a grin, “Could be a nice long road trip for the three of us.”
“It could, at that.” He nodded. “But we’ll have to run it past your father too, darlin’. That’s a long time for us both to be gone. And really, flying up there and then driving back would probably be better. You could pack up your things and bring them back with you that way.”
“Good point.” She shrugged and watched him. “However, I don’t want to do anything that’s going to cause you trouble. That’s why I suggested driving. Besides, Dad can get a couple guys from the neighboring ranches to come over and lend a hand while you are gone, right?”
“True enough,” he said softly. “I’ll just take a pill and sleep the whole flight. I do it when I go to visit my mother, wherever the hell she’s living at that point. You may have to wheel me off the flight if I misjudge the dose. And I’ll even apologize for drooling on you now, but then we could drive back together as a group.”
She grinned at that and rubbed her cheek to his shoulder. “Well then, that is what we will do. How is your momma, by the way? And when are you going to take me to see her and tell her that I have finally pulled my head from my ass in regards to you and Blake?”
“She’s on husband number six, so she’s two up since the last time you saw her. David got the boot about three weeks after you were here last. Then she married Carlos until she caught him looking at too many younger asses and booted him. Now she’s with Jacques,” he told her. “He’s okay, I guess, but keeps trying to get me to call him Dad. Really?” He shot her a disgusted look.
“Wow,” she said with wide eyes. “Seriously? Wow.” She didn’t understand that. At all. “I don’t think that I could ever go on without either of you.” Her sadness radiated from her. “You are both so deep in my heart and soul that I never want to let you go and never can.”
“I know, darlin’,” he said softly giving the swing a push. “I feel the same. But after she and Dad split, I think something just snapped inside. She bops around from marriage to marriage because she can’t find what she had with Dad. But I swear to God, the men keep getting younger. This latest one is barely a year older than me.”
“Goodness gravy.” She looked up at him with wide eyes and shook her head. “It’s like she’s trying to recapture the moment she had with your dad. It’s terrible but that’s what it sounds like. As if she is trying to grab a hold of what she had with him in the timeframe that they had it. In their early twenties and thirties.”
“Yeah, kinda what I figured out when I met my newest daddy.” He said it so sarcastically she snorted. “And he’s this pansy-assed thing too. I swear, I don’t think he could crack open a jar if his life depended on it. Yet he says I should get out of the rancher’s life, that it’s too brutal on the body and takes too much toll on the mind. I swear, I was maybe ten minutes from hogtying him up and throwing him into the nearest river. I don’t get what my mom even sees in these guys in the first place. They are nothing like my dad, at all.”
“Maybe that’s it,” she whispered quietly. “Maybe she’s looking for someone completely different from your dad in hopes that she won’t lose him.” She didn’t know why his parents had split, that wasn’t a question she felt she had a right to know the answer to. Instead she added, “Promise me that if we begin to show signs of wear and tear or breakdown, you boys will come to me? I can’t lose you, even to my own stupidity please.”
“Baby, never happening,” he told her softly. “Besides, we talk about everything anyway. Though we do need to work on you talking about your feelings more. As a woman, I’m pretty damn sure you’re the one that’s supposed to be pushing us for those discussions. I very distinctly recall seeing it in the relationship handbook for dummies that Blake got me.”
That had her laughing, she couldn’t help herself. “Oh God, that’s too funny.” But she could see it. She could totally see Blake presenting Corbin with a relationships for dummies book. “Right, I will keep that in mind and try to be better about it. Besides, now I’m here and I’m so never leaving without at least one of you at my side again.”
“That would be best. Because, if you do, there will be hell to pay. And, you know as well as I do, you won’t hear Blake coming for you.” No, Blake definitely had stealth down to a perfect art form. Marine snipers apparently had to, but he seemed to take it to the next level. And he had always liked sneaking up on her, just to get her to shriek because he knew she’d smack him and then howl with laughter once she was over the scare.
That had her grinning and she nodded. “Oh yeah, I know. Trust me, I know just how silent that man is. I wonder though.” She looked up at Corbin and grinned. “Is he that silent in bed?” Yes, she had just been with him but the man had to be quiet because of the horse and the people milling around not far away, and God only knew that the barn was not the most private of places, not with as many knot holes as it had that people could look into if they had a mind to.
“You’d likely know that better than I would.” He laughed softly. “I know he doesn’t snore, barely even moves when he sleeps, and never gets that annoying whistling thing in the nose. I only know this because he fell asleep on the sofa one day and I took the opportunity to study him. Hell, I didn’t even know when he woke up until he snapped his eyes open and glared at me. Fucking hell, I nearly crapped my pants!” Corbin winced then. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say it like that.”
That had her laughing and she shook her head. “Honey, I have heard far worse. And he was quiet, for the most part.” She smiled, however, and nestled back against Corbin. “How about you? Are you quiet or loud when making love?”
“Depends,” he said, looking uncomfortable. He didn’t look like he wanted to answer that, ever. “I, uh, I think we should get food. I’m sure Blake’s wondering where we got off to. More than likely he’s worried we won’t be bringing him any food.”
That had Patty frowning, but she didn’t push the issue. He didn’t want to tell her, and she wouldn’t force it. “Okay,” she said quietly, her voice slightly quaking. Had she said something wrong? Had she pushed too hard? Had her time in New York changed her more than they would want? She certainly had no trouble now asking for what she wanted, but maybe that was something that Corbin wouldn’t be able to handle. Was it? God, she hoped not.
“Hey.” He touched a finger to her chin. Tipping her face up, he stared into her eyes. His eyes seemed to be searching hers and he frowned, obviously seeing something there he didn’t like or that worried him. “I didn’t mean to sound abrupt with you, Tisha. I just didn’t know how to answer that without sounding…” He shrugged and looked uncomfortable. “Hell, I don’t know,” he muttered.
Pushing to his feet, he drew her up and into his arms for a hug. His hold was gentle as he nibbled on her neck. “The past is the past, Tisha, I don’t want it screwing up our future. I just want to concentrate on the here and now. With you and only you,” he said softly.
She pulled back and looked up at him and nodded. “I love you too, Corbin. Now and always. I really do. I care a great deal for you but I can’t help but feel as if I have done something that is wrong. That I’ve somehow stepped over some line. You will tell me if I do, right?”
“You didn’t and couldn’t, not with us,” he said softly. “But I’m not exactly comfortable discussing past liaisons with the woman who’s going to be part of my future. Even if it is just a discussion about possible noises made during sexual encounters.”
Patty blushed and nodded. “All right then. We will leave it at that. Just know that I love you, will always love you, and I really, really look forward to whatever it is that you do when we will eventually make love. All that I want and need to know is that you will love me, for now and all time. That’s what’s important to me. Nothing else.”
“I very definitely love you,” he said and smiled. “I have for a while and will for a damned long time. You’re everything, Tisha,” he said dropping his head. Brushing a kiss to her lips, he drew back slowly. “Come on, darlin’, let’s grab food and we need to grab the rest of the stuff so we can be comfortable out in the stables.”
“Sounds good to me.” She looked up at him after the kiss that had her gasping. “You will stay with me tonight? You will be there with me? You will both want to sleep with me in what will be our new home? I need and want to be with you both, if only to be cuddled up and sleeping in your arms.”
“’Course we will.” He smiled. “We just got you back darling, there is no way in hell we’re letting you loose again. Not tonight, not tomorrow, not any day after that. The sooner you realize that the better. So yes, I will be there, Blake will be there, and we will be staying with you every night until we totter off into the sunset one last time together.”
“Good.” That had her grinning. “That is what I want. That is what I need. I want to be able to have you boys in my life for the rest of forever. This is what matters, that we are together.” She gave him one more hug and pulled back. “Okay, we will get what we need and then go back out to Blake, yes?”
“Yes.” He nodded with a chuckle. “Why don’t you grab us dinner and I’ll go find the air mattress,” he suggested. “If you’re okay with that, of course. If not, I’ll send you up into the attic to grab the air mattress.”
“Uh, no, that’s all good. You know exactly how I feel about the attic.” She shuddered. She didn’t like closed, tight spaces like the attic. “I will go and get us some food. I will ensure that we have enough for all of us.”
Laughing softly, he winked. “I do know how you feel about the attic. That’s fine, I’ll go up and get what we need. I’ll meet you back down in the kitchen in five,” he said, looking at his watch before he glanced at her. “Should give you a good start on getting things organized.”
“Sounds good to me.” She looked at him once more and then licked her lips. “Go. Do what you need to do. I will be in the kitchen getting some food ready. You do what you need to do. Just make sure to get that and then also stop by my bedroom and grab my pillows? You know me, I can’t sleep without my pillow.”
“Right, pillow.” He nodded. Pulling open the door, he followed her inside. “Did you want your jammies too?” he asked. When she looked at him she saw he was teasing, his eyebrows wiggling at her suggestively.
“Only if you want to have something between your skin and mine.” A frown creased her brow. “And I am really, really hoping that you don’t.” She shrugged and gave his hand another squeeze. “I do love you, mister. So my vote is against jammies but it’s your choice.”
“Good choice,” he breathed next to her ear. Chuckling, he dropped a kiss on her shoulder before he moved past, whistling. He shot her a look over her shoulder that raised the temperature in the hallway, or maybe just in her, a hell of a lot.
Fanning herself, she watched him and licked her lips. Holy hell that man could do things to her that she had never before felt. He and Blake both seemed to be able to do that to her and she loved it. Craved it. Needed it.
Chapter Seven
Sitting on the air mattress with Corbin while Blake was in with Matilda, they spread out the food as they chatted. When Blake came to join them, they got down to eating the casserole and salad that Miranda had made for dinner.
“God, this is good.” Corbin groaned in an almost orgasmic tone.
Blake chuckled softly, shaking his head. “Pretty sure anything would have tasted good after you’ve been out there on your own pretty much and cooking for yourself.”
“Amen to that, brother.” Corbin nodded happily. “Especially out on the range, the options are so fucking limited out there,” he said taking another big bite. Moaning, he did a little seated happy dance. “I have to say though, I think Miranda’s a better cook than Constantine ever was.”
“This is true.” Patty watched her men as they ate and couldn’t stop smiling. “Goodness, I can’t tell you how happy that I am. To know that we are going to have a chance at a life. I am very, very happy about that.” No matter what brought her home, she was home now and that was all that mattered.
“So are we,” Blake said with a grin. Leaning over, he kissed her cheek gently. Sitting back, he was about to put his fork into his mouth when there was a loud crash. “Shit,” he muttered, setting the plate down. Getting off the mattress, he headed for the stall. “Of course you’d choose now,” he groaned.
Snorting, Corbin kept on eating as they watched Blake ease into the stall with the pregnant mare.
Patty grinned and put her plate down. She gave Corbin another hug and then shuffled off of the bed and toward the stall. Pausing before entering, she asked, “What can I do to help you, Blake? Do you need me to hold her head again, pet her…? What can I do?” She hated feeling useless and he knew that.
