After the Sunset (5 page)

“I’m sorry.” I snickered because I wasn’t at all. He had to deal with me, thorns and all.

“No, you ain’t.”

“Rand—”

“I love you.”

I turned and looked at him over my shoulder.

“Don’t ever leave me. I won’t recover, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” He exhaled, like he had been holding his breath. “Christ, you’re a giant pain in the ass.”

There could be no argument.

Chapter 2

T
HERE
were two new cars in the driveway when I pulled up to the house, so I was wondering who was there as I grabbed my groceries and went up to the porch. As I reached for the screen door, the front door opened. There was a man in my house I had never seen in my life, and he was talking to someone over his shoulder, so he didn’t immediately see me.

“Knock it off, Gin,” he laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t care what anybody says. Rand Holloway being gay is a buncha shit. That man nailed more—”

“Glenn!”

He laughed at whoever Gin was as he pushed open the screen door making me back up.

“Excuse me.”

His head swiveled to me and his eyes, brilliant and blue, widened. “Oh shit, man, I’m sorry. I didn’t see…. Sorry.” He winced, apologizing, easing the door closed so it didn’t hit me.

I stepped sideways and plastered on a big smile as he cracked the screen door again.

“Let’s try this again, huh?”

As soon as I was bracing the door open, he leaned back and extended his hand to me.

“I’m Glenn Holloway, Rand’s cousin. I suppose he forgot to tell you that we were coming as well.”

“Who else did he forget to tell,” I asked, after clearing my throat.

“You and every other hand on this ranch.” He smiled sheepishly, raking his fingers through the same glossy black hair that Rand had. His hair was shorter than Rand’s, but just as thick. “We’re all leavin’ day after tomorrow for my brother Zach’s ranch, but ’til then, we’re stayin’ here.”

Uh-huh.

“Are you the cook?”

The cook?

“Do you have a room here or in the bunkhouse?”

“Unfortunately, I’m not the cook.” I forced a smile. “Excuse me, can I…?”

“Oh yeah, sorry, where are my manners?”

I could venture a guess.

As I stepped into the great room, I saw another man and two women. The television was on, and it looked like they had made themselves comfortable with chips and salsa and margaritas. There was a pitcher on the coffee table as well as a bowl with salt on it and wedges of limes.

“Hi there.” One of the women smiled wide, standing up as I moved across the room to her. “I’m Ginger Holloway, that guy’s cousin,” she said, tipping her head back toward the door where Glenn was. “And this here is my brother Brent and his girlfriend Emily.”

“I’m Stefan,” I told her, offering her my hand.

“Well, it’s a pleasure,” she told me, taking my hand and squeezing tight.

I turned to Brent, who rose, wiped his palms on his jeans, and then extend his hand to me. After we shook, it was Emily’s turn.

“So Stefan,” Ginger said, returning my attention to her. “How long have you worked on the ranch?”

I was saved from having to say anything by another woman coming in from the kitchen.

“Gin, there isn’t anything else in there but wine and beer and coffee. Rand must—” She saw me. “Oh, hi there. Did you bring food?”

“I had planned to cook for two,” I told the stranger.

Her smile was big, as were her baby-blue eyes. Her short blonde bob made her look like a pixie. She rushed across the room to offer me her hand. “Hi, I’m the test, Lisa Whitten. Nice to meet you.”

“Stefan,” I said, taking her hand. “Test?”

Her laugh was nice, lilting. “Yeah, apparently I got invited along to what I thought would be a nice relaxing weekend on a dude ranch to check and see if their cousin, your boss, was really and truly gay.” She put her hands on her hips and struck a pose for me. “Apparently my hotliness is to be put to the test.”

The room erupted in laughter.

I nodded.

She was cute, no way around it. Her tan was golden, her legs long, all her curves were perfect, and she had sharp elfin features. She was the kind of woman who men would turn and watch and drool over, like Barbie with a short ’do.

“I hafta tell you.” She gave me a wicked smile, leaning closer to me, her voice dropping. “After laying eyes on the man, I’m not really that upset about being tricked into this anymore.”

“Because my cousin is hot!” Ginger whooped from where she was on the couch.

“You guys?”

One more woman stepped from the kitchen.

“Do you know if Rand has Wi-Fi out here? I have got to check my email.”

“No,” I answered her. “Just a cable modem.”

The woman looked up at me and smiled. “I don’t suppose it’s anywhere in the house I can go.”

“His office is upstairs, three doors down.”

“Would it be okay, you think, if I just hooked up my laptop?”

“Sure, just unplug his computer and hook yours up. He won’t care as long as you put it back the way you found it.”

“Thank you,” she gushed, hand out for me. “Kim Palmer. Great to meet you.”

“Stefan Joss,” I said, taking the offered hand.

“You’re saving my life, Stefan,” she sighed. “Ginny and I own a catering business in Austin, and apparently we had some screwups today that I have to fix.”

“I’ll go with you,” Ginger sighed, getting up off the couch, margarita glass in hand. “But I really hope Rand gets back soon ’cause all tequila and no food is going to make me a little loopy.”

“Going to?” Brent called over to her.

“Shut up.” She giggled at him, following Kim up the stairs as I made my way to the kitchen.

Dumping the groceries on the counter, I was torn between being thrilled that I was home and wishing to God that his cousins were not.

There was a tap on the back door, and when I opened it, I was faced with Everett Hartline, one of Rand’s men.

“Hey.” I smiled at him, moving sideways out of his way. “You wanna come in?”

“No, I was just supposed to let the dogs in the house and stay there to make sure they didn’t scare his kin.”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re making sure the pack doesn’t frighten his cousins?”

He grinned. “You know, before I worked on this ranch, I only ever worked with border collies or heelers, Australian cattle dogs and such. Rand Holloway’s the only man I know who keeps Rhodesian Ridgebacks on his ranch.”

They were beautiful dogs, Rand’s hounds from hell, but they were big, all between seventy-five to eighty pounds of muscle. So it made sense actually, because while they were not vicious or aggressive, tending to leave strangers alone instead of attacking at first sight, the people were on their home turf, and so they would be protective of Rand and the house and me.

I loved them all, which had amazed me. I was not the type who liked animals as a rule, but ever since I had been on the ranch, calves and dogs and horses had taken over my heart. I was perfectly content to sit in front of the fire on a cold winter day, watching television under a warm puppy pile of fur. There was one of the hell hounds in particular, Bella, who had staked her claim on me. She was more my dog than Rand’s, and he had said on a number of occasions that as soon as he could, he was going to visit his favorite breeder in Biloxi and get another puppy to raise on the ranch. Bella was apparently no good to him anymore as a working dog since she had decided that she wanted to be my pet. Supposedly I distracted her more than I did the others, and she would rather sit at my feet than run after cattle.

“Stef?”

“Sorry.” I grinned at him. “I think I’m tired. Where are the dogs now?”

I heard a yell at the same time from the living room.

“I’d say they were on the porch,” he grunted, turning away. “But you’re here, so you can deal with them.”

“You wanna stay and eat?”

“No.” He yawned, looking back at me. “Me, Jace, Chris, and Pierce are headed out to the Rooster to get laid.”

“Have a good time,” I called after him. The Rooster was a honky-tonk I had been in once. It had been more than enough. Between the sawdust on the floor and the music that resembled nothing I had ever heard, my plan was to never go again. “And good luck getting lucky.”

“Don’t need no luck, son, when you look like this.”

I rolled my eyes and shut the door before walking back out into the living room. It sounded like a bad horror movie, the snarling and growling going on outside the front door.

“Jesus Christ,” Lisa moaned, looking terrified, as Glenn looked out the window.

Brent had a smile for me as did Emily.

“Goddamn, Rand, who keeps dogs that big just to herd cattle?”

“What is that?” Ginger asked, having come halfway down the stairs.

“Just the dogs,” I told her, slipping past Glenn and opening the door.

Everyone yelled behind me at once.

The second I opened the door, the barking stopped.

“Seriously,” I told them, “the noise is out of control.”

Six faces were looking up at me expectantly.

“Stefan, they don’t come in the house, do they?” Lisa asked tentatively.

“Yeah, Rand doesn’t like the dogs loose on the ranch at night unless he’s with them. The dogs are hard to see in the dark, and he worries that anyone coming down the drive might accidentally hit them.”

I stepped sideways, and they all came in and clustered around me, five tails in a blur of motion, five wet noses touching my hands. The sixth dog, Bella, was dancing around me, whimpering and whining, contorting her body into a half moon as she tried to shove her head under my palm.

“C’mon.” I yawned, turning for the kitchen.

I heard their feet on the wooden floor, the jingle of their collars as they trotted after me. I held the swinging door open for them and then let it shut behind me.

“You’re such an attention whore,” I told my girl Bella, crouching down to pet her. I was instantly covered in dog. Her nose went into my eye as the others licked my face, my nose, my throat, and pranced in circles around me. “This is so gross,” I laughed at them.

I petted each one, scratched ears, stroked backs, rubbed and finally hugged each one. When I finally rose, I went to the pantry to get their dishes down for water and food, and talked to them as I moved around. They were all sitting there, tails thumping, watching me. Rand used to only have four, but as the ranch grew, so did his pack. He had six now and would soon have seven once he went to pick up the new puppy.

When the door swung open, the dogs moved fast, forming a phalanx around me, which was funny to see, for me, but not quite as amusing for Glenn and Ginger.

Beau was the undisputed leader. He was the biggest, and he had been with Rand the longest, five years. He looked pretty scary, hackles up, teeth bared, ears laid back, snarling. If we were outside, he would have ignored them, but he was penned in, and there was nothing between them and me except him. He went into defense mode that fast.

“Quit it,” I told him, touching his head, petting him so he had no choice but to stop and look up at me. “It’s okay, honey.”

He talked to me, half howl, half bark, chiding me for keeping him from his duty, before he sat down with a huff of air, with what looked like disgust.

“So what is it that you do on the ranch, Stefan?” Ginger asked me, squinting.

I didn’t get to say because Lisa yelled from the other room that Rand was back.

The dogs went nuts because Rand was home, and all of them, except Bella, rushed from the kitchen to greet him.

It was funny. Ginger screamed, Glenn abandoned his cousin to get out of the way of the stampede of dogs, and I heard Lisa and then Kim yell from the living room. I finished measuring out the ratio of wet food to dry food in each dog’s bowl, and then filled the bowls of water before I washed my hands. I needed a shower, but I wanted to see Rand first.

“Jesus Christ, where the hell did he have to go for groceries?” Glenn groused, throwing open the screen door, shivering in the cold air. “We could have driven to Lubbock and back for how long you took.”

I heard boots on the stairs and then a bag of charcoal was shoved hard at Glenn’s chest. “If you had given me any kind of warning about this at all, I might’ve been a little better prepared, asshole. As it is—Beau, get off me and get inside, you stupid—I’m missin’ a dog. Where’s Bella?”

“There’s one standing with Stefan.”

“Why the hell you guys couldn’t have just called is bullshit, Glenn,” Rand grumbled, not listening as he suddenly stepped into the room, dogs spilling in before him. “When Stef gets home, you guys are gonna
hafta—”

“Hey,” I called over to him softly.

“Stef.” He said my name like he’d been hit in the stomach, as he stood there, frozen, staring at me.

“Surprise.” I smiled at him.

Bella barked her hello, but didn’t leave my side.

“Christ,” he growled, walking by the couch, dumping the groceries there before he jogged across the room to me.

“Where are you off to, Mr. Holloway?” I arched an eyebrow at him.

“Shut up,” he said before he grabbed my arm, fingers digging into my bicep, and yanked me after him into the kitchen.