Rocky Mountain Romance (Six Pack Ranch) (19 page)

It was as if everything he’d ever kept hidden inside could no longer be contained. Steve relished being able to touch and taste. The last hour had been a challenge. He’d wanted nothing more than to crowd her against a wall and take her right there.

He stripped away her pants, lifting her knees in the air until she was wide open to his touch. With her death grip on his hair, neither of them was moving too far apart, but now he slowed, teasing the tip of his tongue over her clit and listening as her muted curses rose in volume.

“Jeez, Melody. So fucking delicious. Come on my tongue. I’ll fuck you hard once you’ve come.”

He slipped her feet onto his shoulders, admiring the perfect positioning that allowed him to lick along one side of her folds and down the other. Thrusting his tongue as deep as possible. He paused to wet his fingers, getting them slippery so when he placed the tips to her sex and pushed in, a happy groan escaped her. In the brief moment he watched her face, all he saw was pleasure.

Then he was busy with his mouth on her pussy, lapping and licking and driving her wild as she squirmed under his touch. With two fingers buried deep in her body, he pumped slowly, focusing on the sensitive spot of her clit with his lips until her fingers tightened, pulling his hair as her body clamped down on his fingers, her moan of pleasure floating toward the trees.

A second later he was on his feet, his jeans unzipped and cock in hand. He didn’t bother with any of the niceties other than lining up and pushing deep. Hot-white pleasure surrounded him as her pussy squeezed the daylights out of his cock.

“Oh my word,” Melody whispered. “You feel twice as big as usual.”

He couldn’t stop his grin from widening. “Way to stroke my ego, sweetheart.”

Then he caught her around the waist and lifted her in the air, moving away from the wheel well so he could push her back against the metal trailer and thrust up hard.

A gasp escaped her, air brushing past his ear as she caught her hands around his shoulders and clung on tight. Her ankles were locked at the small of his back as she used her legs to help him drive in deep.

“Look at us. Look where we are,” Steve demanded, one hand catching her chin and lifting until their eyes met. He held her there so he could stare into endless pale-blue pools as he drove his hips forward. “You wanted our sex lives to get more exciting, and for me to give you new experiences. How’s this?”

No need to wait for an answer, because he already knew she liked it. Oh hell, yeah, she liked it a lot.

At least that’s what her nails digging into his shoulders told him. And the small noises that escaped her lips in an endless stream. Nothing sophisticated, nothing planned. Just raw pleasure and straight-out fucking, and it was very good.

“
Yes
,” Melody cried, her nails leaving furrows in his skin in spite of the awkward angle.

He switched position enough to support her on one hand while he slipped his other between them, rubbing his fingers over her clit as he increased the pace.

The wind picked up in the trees creating a rushing sound, almost like applause as stars floated in front of his eyes. He was seconds away from coming, but damn if he would lose control before she found release.

He placed his lips near her ear. “Let go when you’re ready,” he coaxed. “And get ready, because I’m going to fuck the daylights out of you. The next place you stop, you’re going to have to take your time getting out of the truck. Not only because I fucked you silly, but because my come is gonna slip from you, and you’ll feel it, and you’re going to remember this moment. And
this
one.
Me
, inside of
you
, and us both
losing
our fucking
minds
.”

Steve emphasized every other word with a thrust of his hips. Low feral noises escaped her on every breath until he was out of time and he was one pulse away from…

“Oh, yes, that’s…
Yesssss
.”

Melody’s forehead hit his chest as she shuddered against the trailer. Steve drove forward once more, pinning her to the wall like some twisted sexual tableau, his cock jerking hard as his seed shot into her. They stayed there, locked in position, pleasure drifting around them like an intoxicating mist. He couldn’t see, his head was spinning so hard, and it was only the fact that his knees were locked that kept him from plunging to the ground.

She gasped for air. “Sweet Jesus, what have you done to me?”

Steve let a chuckle escape as he rotated them, his legs giving out as he collapsed onto the makeshift seat of the wheel well. “I’ll tell you as soon as I can think. I don’t have any blood north of my waistline right now.”

Melody wiggled her legs to a more comfortable position, still speared on his cock. She looked up at him, absolute delight on her face. “That was a surprise.”

“A nice surprise?”

Her cheeks flushed brighter. “Damn you for talking about your come leaking down my legs. I’m going to die of embarrassment if that happens.”

“That would make it tough to keep dating if one of us bit it during or after sex.” He leaned in closer and offered her a satisfied smile. “I’ll stop short of that. I’ll only make you pass out with pleasure, deal?”

Satisfaction was written all over her as he lifted her and they found their clothing.

She drove off with five minutes remaining on her thirty-minute window, Steve grinning like a fool as he watched her go.

Chapter Thirteen

She barely made it through the door of the clinic before Tom shoved paperwork under her nose.

“Are you trying to put us out of business?” he demanded.

Her jaw ached from clenching every time she was around the man. She got it, she really did. Tom was pissed off, and she seemed to be the cause of his disappointment.

That made her his first target. But when she added in everything else she had to deal with, her patience with his childish behaviour was rapidly fading, and it had only been a week since Mathis took off.

She pulled it together, brushing past him and speaking as politely as possible. “Let me change my shoes, and I’ll look at whatever is causing the trouble.”

Tom whirled on his heel and stalked back into the office.

Callie appeared in the doorway between the front waiting room where they greeted small-animal patients and the back of the clinic. Her gaze met Melody’s, and she wrinkled her nose in sympathy. “He’s been in a foul mood all morning,” she warned.

Melody didn’t give a shit. Mathis had put her in charge, and while she’d do what was possible to keep staff morale high, she wasn’t catering to Tom’s whims to keep him happy.

She put on a pair of runners and grabbed a coffee before heading into the office. “What’s up?

Tom glared harder. “What the hell were you pumping into the cattle the other day? Gold?”

He shoved the clipboard across the desk so hard it slammed into her legs, and she had to scramble to catch it. A quick glance showed it was the invoice sheet she’d authorized Callie to put together for Sean Dalton. “What’s the problem? Did you find a mistake in the math?”

“You know damn well the computer program does all of the calculating,” he snapped. “It’s the initial cost of the inoculation.” His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “If I find out you’ve been padding the bills and pocketing the money…”

Oh, hell no. Melody was not putting up with that baloney. “Don’t start with me. If that’s a straight-up accusation, you go right ahead, but I will not stand for—”

Tom tapped the bill as he interrupted. “The last time I did inoculations, they were a good sixty cents cheaper per animal.”

“They probably were, because you used last year’s methods. There’s been an update, and we can provide three things at the same time.” She spun the clipboard around and pushed it back toward him, drawing a finger along the fine line that showed the contents of the shots.

“And that’s just as effective?” Tom grumbled for a moment, settling back in his chair, most of his bluster fading away. “I suppose it is. You learn that this last year at school?”

“Partly. Plus I got some advanced papers from one of my profs and I’ve been in contact with the company producing the drugs.” She didn’t want to be nice, especially after he’d been a complete jackass, but she was in charge, and Mathis would expect her to try to get along. “I can send you the article if you want to read it.”

All she got was a grunt.

For Mathis.
She pointed at the columns in the ledger. “It does look more expensive than last year, I agree.”

“There’s no way any of these ranchers want to spend more money, especially when you start adding it up per head.”

Tom was back to complaining, and Melody wasn’t sure she could keep smiling for much longer. Trying to explain anything to a person who didn’t want to listen in the first place was tough enough. Add in that she suspected he had limited mathematical skills…

Still, she tried.

“It does add up, but in the long run it’s cheaper because they don’t have to get us out as many times and pay our visitation fee. It’s just the initial cost that seems high. And you’re right, it could be a shock the first time, which is why we need to make sure before we go out that the information is there.”

“But Sean Dalton didn’t know ahead of time, did he?”

He would have, in a perfect world, but of course with everything else that had gone wrong that day, Melody had completely forgotten to point out she was using a new method along with all the benefits. “We send a note along with the bill. Explain this means one less visit from us over the year. You know with these ranchers it’s the bottom line that counts.”

Tom made another noise before pulling out some other paperwork and ignoring her altogether, and that seemed to be the end of the conversation. Fine by Melody, because she didn’t want to talk to him anymore either.

She stepped to the front desk to grab the roster for the afternoon.

“Melody,” someone exclaimed, the summons accompanied by a gentle woof.

Lady was too well trained to lurch at Melody, but her tail wagged rapidly as she sat at attention at the feet of Susan Paule, head administrator of the Rocky Mountain Seniors’ Home.

“Oh, hey. Good to see you both.” Melody walked around the desk, squatting to pet Lady. “How’s she been doing?”

She checked the dog quickly as Susan hurried to assure her. “Wonderfully. I brought her in for her booster shots like you mentioned I should after we got her registered.”

Right. She’d forgotten it would be this soon. Melody brushed a hand over Lady’s furry body. “She looks happy.”

“I think she is. And she fits in beautifully at the home. Thank you so much for bringing her to us—the residents love her.” Susan rose to her feet along with Melody, leaning around to speak to Callie at the front desk. “Is it okay if Melody does Lady’s checkup?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t have time,” Melody protested. “I just stopped at the clinic for a minute to grab some materials, and I need to get back out into the field.”

Susan smiled. “Well, anytime you want to come for a visit, you’re always welcome.”

A small hand caught hold of Melody’s wrist and tugged. She looked down into dark brown eyes of one of the younger residents of Rocky Mountain House. She scrambled to remember his name.

His chin quivered. “You’re not going to look at Hopper?”

She glanced into the waiting-room area where his three smaller siblings were lined up in chairs, each with a rabbit in their lap. For the first time that day, her smile was genuine. “What a lovely-looking family of bunnies. But no, I won’t be checking them today because I have some cows that asked me to visit them first. Dr. Tom will take care of you and your pets.”

The little guy made a face then nodded and went back to his seat.

The warning alarm she’d set on her watch went off, counting down to her next appointment. Melody gave the kids and Susan a final wave, grabbed the information needed for the afternoon from Callie, and headed back to prepare the medications she needed to take with her.

She ignored Tom who stood in the open door of the office, staring into the lobby, his expression unreadable.

Grumpy bastard. Hopefully he wasn’t planning on being an ass the entire time Mathis was out of town.

Fortunately for her, one of her afternoon stops was back at the Moonshine Coleman ranch. She followed the directions she’d been given that led her to a small outbuilding with a neat fence enclosure. Steve moved toward her, his grey T-shirt encasing muscles that simply wouldn’t quit, and she found herself heating up just watching him saunter closer. She hurried out the door so she didn’t miss a moment of admiring the way his biceps bulged the fabric of his sleeves, his thigh muscles tight to the faded jeans wrapped around his legs.

Every inch mouthwatering delicious. Nope, she’d never had an issue with the packaging, and the treatment she’d gotten over the past week and a bit had been a heck of a lot more mature than she remembered.

As he drew closer, her gaze drifted up and met his eyes. Dark and intoxicating. So addictive she couldn’t look away.

He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground as if she weighed nothing, kissing her firmly before breaking it off and offering a steamy grin. “Hey, lady. You want to come for a ride with me?”

One of his exaggerated leers followed, and she laughed. “I don’t see any horses,” she teased.

“Now if that’s not an invitation to start singing ‘Save A Horse’, I don’t know what is.”

He’d already started humming the tune as she pushed on his shoulders to get him to release her. “You’re a bad boy. No singing or riding right now. And you need to put me down.”

He lowered her, backing up only a few inches instead of a few feet like she’d hoped. “Sweetheart, you keep that complaining up, and I’ll think you’re shy or something.”

“It’s not that,” Melody insisted, glancing around to see if any of his brothers were about to pop out of the woodwork. “I told you before, it’s not professional for you to be kissing and hugging me in public.”