Patty's Homecoming, page 17
part #1 of Montana Wranglers Series
“No, you didn’t hurt me and yes, it felt amazing. I loved the way that it felt, that you felt. I love you.” She snuggled up next to him and smiled. “It felt so very, very good. I happened to have really loved it. Please don’t be upset about it. I loved it and want it again and again.”
A light kiss landed on her cheek before he was rearranging the blankets so she was cocooned in them. He let out a slow breath and wrapped her in his arms again. “You will be the death of me, of that I’m very sure,” he muttered.
Patty grinned. “Only as long as we are seriously old and gray, I don’t mind because I’m sure you will be the same with me, darling mine,” she teased him. “It’s okay though. I really love it. I need you. I want you. And we have forever, or whatever time we’ve got left at least.”
“It won’t ever be long enough, whatever the time is.” Squeezing her close, he pressed a kiss to her lips. “So, what exactly do you have planned for today? I mean beyond molesting my poor body before I was even awake or had any caffeine.”
“Well, I was hoping that you and I would go shopping. I need to get some groceries, I also would really like to get some more clothes. I don’t need a lot, but a few extra things would be nice. Maybe we could even go shopping for underthings, if you were of a mind to?”
That caught his attention. He cocked a brow and smiled faintly. “I suppose we could do that. At least the underthings part. Where exactly would you like to go shopping?” he asked curiously. Shifting, he propped himself up on an elbow in a lazy-looking lounge.
“Somewhere that we can get some frilly underthings would be wonderful. That, and I need to get a new pair of boots. My boots have gone missing.” Which was really strange, to be honest. “I had them on the back porch last night and this morning they were gone.”
“You’ve already been up?” he asked in surprise. “How the hell didn’t I feel you moving around?” he grumbled, more to himself than her obviously. “We do have wolves out here you know. Being this close to the big park, there are bears too on occasion. Though that’s pretty damned rare, the wolves are more than likely the culprits. We’ll probably find the remains one day a few miles from here, or someone will, all chewed up and spat out.”
“Well I did get up and started the coffee maker so when you are ready, it’s ready.” And she had to pee. “And please don’t remind me about wolves and bears, please.” She shuddered. “I don’t think that I would survive seeing one. I’m weird, I know.”
“They are a natural part of living out in the middle of God’s country, darling.” He gave a small chuckle and kissed her. “I need to pee and then shower. I’ll even attempt bacon and eggs if you want to go and dig it all out. I promise to shower fast, but I need one to get rid of the rub I feel caked on my back.”
“Yeah, but I don’t like wolves.” She laughed and shook her head. “How about you pee and I will go and start a new pot of coffee and get everything out? And no, I won’t start on food because that would turn out bad, very bad all around.”
“Trust me, I know,” he chuckled. Hugging her tight, he kissed her once more before wiggling out of the bed. She got quite the view as he walked toward the bathroom, not an ounce of self-consciousness in his entire body.
Patty fanned herself. Licking her lips, she sighed. “Damn,” she muttered. That man was…wow. He was fucking intense. “Wow,” she whispered and rose to her feet. Grabbing Blake’s shirt, she slipped it on and then stepped into her fuzzy house slippers and, with a yawn, headed off for the kitchen so she could pull food out of the fridge for them.
Eight minutes later he came out with a pair of jeans slung low on his hips. No shirt, she approved. “I wondered where that shirt went.” He smiled at her as he padded closer on his bare feet. Leaning in, he nuzzled at her throat, “You smell good enough to eat.”
“Mmmm,” She leaned back against him. “I really think that you can do just that. After you have fed me,” she added. “Food first.” She patted his chest. “There is a leftover steak in the fridge for you too, babe.” She took another sip of her coffee. “Now, get to cooking for us, please?”
“You guys left me a steak?” he asked in surprise. A quick squeeze around her middle and he drew back. Moving into the kitchen, he grinned at her. “So, what did you and Corbin get up to last night? Besides plotting to get me a day off, that is.”
“Of course we left you a steak.” She shrugged. “We ate, we were supposed to watch a movie, but you know how I am,” she teased happily. “So in other words we had sex, lots of it, until I sadly had to leave him to the guest room so that I could come crawl into bed with you, so that I could sleep and molest you this morning.”
Chuckling, he set pans on the stove and turned the flames on under one. “I’m surprised you waited until I woke up, given how absolutely and deliciously insatiable you are. I would have guessed you’d wake up and start molesting me.”
“Well you know, honey, that I wanted and I needed to have you get your full sleep on. I happen to worry about you, babe. You know that. I was worried for you so I made sure that you slept. So yeah.” She nodded. “Besides, now I get to have you all day long.”
“And likely part of the evening if Corbin’s taking on even a chunk of my normal daily tasks. He’s really going to be hating life in about”—he looked at the clock—“two hours.” Chuckling, he started dropping bacon into the pan. Washing his hands, he grabbed a mug. He filled it with coffee, took a long drink, and then put on a full apron.
“You sound far, far too happy about that,” she teased as she watched him. “However, knowing Corbin, he will delegate a hell of a lot of work. You and I both know it. He doesn’t mind making those asses work where you would rather just do it yourself so you didn’t have to show them time and again.”
He shot her a look over the rim of his mug, more a glower really. “I prefer to have it done right the first time, to keep busy, and that’s just the easiest way to achieve both goals. So sue me for trying to keep the place running smoothly for your dad. It also helps keep those who rub one another wrong out of each other’s hair. It’s a system that has worked well over the years and, until I can figure out how to get your dad to fire some of the yahoos he’s got and hire real men who work for a living, it’s the best I can do.”
“I know babe.” She did too. “I know that is why you do it. I know that you do it to keep things going and I appreciate the hell out of that. You are amazing, Blake, and we both know it.” She shrugged. “Honey, if you think that some of the men need to be fired then we will talk to Dad and get them fired. Period.”
“Yes, why didn’t I think of that?” He rolled his eyes. “Darling, your dad is a softy. I go to him with complaints from the other men and my own, he talks to the guys, and they feed him a line or two that keeps them around. If they were stealing or doing bodily harm to someone, they’d be shot and buried in the back forty. But they are being lazy or forgetful, which according to your father is not grounds to fire them. It just means more supervision. I’ve tried to get him out there to watch what they are doing but they know when the boss is around and actually do the work. To a point, they still play just dumb enough and whatever, that he sees them as needing more one-on-one training.”
She sighed, “Then it’s time that Daddy turns the reins over to someone that will ensure these asses either pull their weight or are put over to the other side of forever. I mean it. It’s crap that they are just getting by the way that they are and you are killing yourself, honey.” That’s the part she couldn’t—wouldn’t stand for.
“Ever since Bill retired he hasn’t seemed interested in putting someone else in the spot.” He was of course referring to the old manager who had overseen the daily running of the ranch. He’d worried about the little things while her dad had looked at the big picture. “Because your dad’s not out there on a daily basis, watching and looking them all over with the ranch’s future in the back of his mind, he’s not seeing the crap being pulled.” Blake pulled out the first batch of bacon and laid some more into the pan.
“Then perhaps it’s time Bill’s spot is filled. Maybe Dad just needs someone to tell him?” She shrugged at that and looked up at him. “Maybe you should talk to Dad about you taking that spot? You know everyone out on the ranch, you know how to do the job. Hell, you could run that place in your sleep, so why not?”
He shot her a look and frowned. She could practically hear the wheels spinning. He was still frowning as he turned back to the pan to flip the bacon over. Grabbing his cup, he sipped at the liquid before he finally said anything. “Maybe,” he murmured.
“Maybe?” she asked with a giggle. “Oh man, you are too much. I love it though, the way that you tease me.” She was teasing him, he could see it in the twinkle of her eye. “I think more than maybe. I really think you would kick ass at that job. Literally. You would kick their asses and get them in line.”
“No, I mean maybe,” he said quietly. He wasn’t sure about taking on the position. While he knew he could handle the hands and daily running of the ranch easily enough, it wasn’t an easy position to deal with. He had been doing it to a degree for a while, except for the part of hiring and firing the hands as needed. “I’ll have to think about it long and hard before I even bring it up, if I ever do, with your dad.”
“That’s all that I can ask, honey,” Patty said with a shrug. “All that I know is that you are pretty amazing. I happen to adore you, need you in my life. If you can take the position, I think you should. However, you should also know that no matter what, honey, I will stand by you. Whatever you want to do, we will do it.”
Shooting her a small smile over his shoulder, he nodded. “I know, Tish, I know,” he said quietly. He did, too. She had always been there for him and Corbin. Even in their younger years. She’d pretty much been their champion and cheerleader all rolled into one. ’Course they’d returned the favor, it’s how they’d stayed so close. Likely why, as they’d grown up, their relationship had so naturally and easily morphed toward a more romantic inclination between the three of them. Shaking his head, he moved to scramble up some eggs in a bowl.
“We are good together, you know that right? We all fit well together, always,” she said with a smile. “That’s something that I love, honey. That we are all able to fit so well together even after all of this time, right?”
“I know,” he said smiling back at her. Pulling the bacon off, he dropped it into the paper towels to drain before turning that burner off. Wiping his hands on a cloth, he moved to her and cupped her face. Staring down into her eyes, he felt something shift inside. It happened every damn time he looked into her eyes. It was a sense of rightness, of being loved, cared about, and just knowing that this woman was a part of his future. “We’ve always fitted, even when we were younger. I just wish we hadn’t all gotten thrown so far apart over the years. I know I was the one that started it, going off to serve in the military. But I needed to do something at that point, something to give me a better understanding of who I was, who I would be. I’m just grateful we’re all back together again, finally, here in our own home.”
“I’m glad that you did too,” she whispered. “I’m glad that you did that because it has made you the man that you are today. I’m to blame as well because I left for as long as I did. I wish that I hadn’t left for as long as I had but I think.” She sighed. “And don’t hate me for saying this because I don’t like it either, but part of me thinks that I was supposed to go to New York because I will testify against the guy that hired me. I won’t be cowed like pretty much everyone else in the world was.” She whispered. “Weird, I know.”
He drew back to stare at her and held up his hand, his fingers a breath apart. “Just a little weird,” he said, and smiled when she smacked his hand. Chuckling, he let out a sigh. “We each made choices, Tish. Those choice have brought us to this place, made us the people we are now, shaping us and our future. Hopefully the way it’s supposed to be.”
“I know.” She sighed and shook her head. “Well, all that I know is that we will figure this all out.” She would somehow make up for leaving them. “All that I know is that we will figure life out, together.”
“Hey.” He flicked a finger to her nose. “None of that. Stop blaming yourself for things that are not your fault. Yes, I can see it in your face, you always did suck at hiding things around me. So just stop. We each made choices. Those choices have us here, now, together. That is all that matters.”
“I’ve never been able to hide anything from you, we both know that,” she said with a smile. “I will try though. I’m working on trying to stop blaming myself for everything. I really am. I want to be able to enjoy life with you boys and I know that in order to do that I will have to give up on beating myself up all the time.”
“Yes you will. You should try beating up on Corbin, I hear he enjoys that kind of thing.” He shot her a grin before turning back to the stove. Dumping the eggs into the hot pan, he dumped the bowl into the sink. “You have a list ready of what we need to get when we’re in town?” he asked her suddenly, switching topics fast.
“Yep, it’s all in my mind. It’s a list that will change from time to time just so you know,” she teased him. “It all depends on how fast or slow we are there. I want you to enjoy this day out with me, think that you will be able to do that, big boy?”
“I think I can manage,” he said in a droll tone, his lips curling into a grin. “So, are we going into Mission or farther out to a big city for this shopping escapade?” he asked. Grabbing plates, he split the eggs and bacon between them before bringing them to the counter where she sat. Setting one before her, he went back for forks and the coffee pot.
“Maybe a bigger city. Perhaps we could also arrange a night off in a hotel?” she asked hopefully. “I think that might be kind of nice, don’t you? I really do think that it would be nice to be able to have a night in a hotel room, Jacuzzi, just us?”
“We could.” He nodded slowly. “But I do work tomorrow,” he pointed out quietly. “Unless you can sweet-talk Corbin into doing a second day of my work, that might be pushing it a bit, babe. Otherwise we’ll do dinner in the city and get back here sometime tonight so I can get in for my normal hours.”
“Darn, okay, this is true.” She sighed. “I will take whatever I can get but no more killing yourself on the ranch, honey. The way that you came home…” She shook her head. “Gods, I was so worried for you. Please don’t do that to me again?” she whispered.
He looked at her and made a face. “You know I can’t promise that. Shit happens, Tish. It’s ranching life—one moment you’re going along all fine and wonderful, the next an animal that outweighs you a few times over is trying to take you out. It’s the life. You know it, I know it, and we all have to accept it. But, I will try, best I can, promise you, sweetheart.”
“I know that it does but it doesn’t mean that I like it any at all. However, I know that you are damn good at what you do. I know that you will always try to get home to me as soon as you can. I would like to ask, however, that you please, please make those assholes do their actual work?”
“I try that daily, unfortunately it doesn’t go over well. They know I have no authority over them so they do just enough to not truly get in trouble but not so much that they are actually working. Unless your dad shows up, and then they seem to suddenly be so busy and yet get nothing really done. I’ve pointed that out to your dad too many times to count now, and I’ve given up. Even when the work doesn’t get done and he wonders why it’s on the roster for the next day, and I tell him I get the same thing each time. ‘They are good lads, they just had an off day, you’ll see, it’ll be just fine.’” Blake rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath about the “lads.”
“I have plenty of authority over them if I so chose to exercise it.” She shrugged. “I really and truly do think that they need a good swift kick though. Honest to goodness.” She shrugged. “I think, however, that it will be good to get someone else in Bill’s place.” Period.
“Then you should start firing their lazy asses,” he said quietly as he stabbed his eggs. “It’s going to be yours one day, Tish, best ensure it doesn’t go to ruin along the way.” It wouldn’t, they both knew that, but Blake and Corbin, as well as the few others who really worked the ranch, could only do so much every day.
“I know that it is, which is why I think that I will be able to easily get their asses in line.” She shrugged. “We know that it won’t go to ruin,” she said with a grin. “However, I think you also need to step up and help me out as my guys. I think that you will be the one who would more likely have someone snap to attention than I would.”
“Hardly.” He shook his head. “This isn’t the military, something I’m constantly reminded of when I dare to tell one of them to do something and they are not my men in the field. Hell, if your dad wants to clean house, all he really has to do is tell them he’s making me the ranch manager even if he never does. They would clear out so fast we’d still be tasting dust a month from now.”
That had her smiling. “All right then, that’s what we will do. We will talk to Daddy about making you the ranch manager. I honestly think that it’s long overdue, honey. We both know that you bleed and sweat for the ranch, Daddy knows it too. So yep, it’s time that Daddy makes you manager.” Even if her dad was going to leave the ranch to her guys if anything ever happened to him.
He whipped his head around to stare at her, a piece of bacon hanging from his lips. Grabbing the piece, he frowned at her. “That’s not what I said. I said we should just tell them he’s making me ranch manager, not actually make me ranch manager. I still don’t know if I even want to consider taking the job on.”
“Oh honey, you know my father. We tell him that it’s a farce and he’s going to latch onto it, babe. So whatever it is that we do, you need to be very, very sure that you are ready for that job when we get Dad on board with what we are doing.”
