Spurred On (The Quick and the Hot) (10 page)

Hell, he was at full hardness.

After sliding a palm down her side, he gripped her hip. The round curve fit his hand perfectly. He kneaded her trim muscle that had tormented him for a week in those short-shorts, skirts, and even in tight jeans. Need rocketed in him.

A humming sound came from Zoe Beth’s throat. She threw her thigh over his, bringing her pussy right against his cock.

“Damn, sweetheart. You’re so wet again.”

“I’m thinking about all that whipped cream we used.”

“Next time I’ll bring two cans.”

“Just two?” She tipped her face up to look into his eyes. The lights he saw in her sea-green gaze brought a warm pressure to his chest.

He found her slick heat with his fingers and groaned. “Two cans of whipped cream and some rope.”

Then he reached for another condom and pinned her to the truck bed for a long time.

Chapter Seven

The scents of cattle fogged the air. Zoe Beth stepped onto the front porch, coffee still in hand. She was having a difficult time waking up this morning after Hayden had kept her up, loving her for the fourth night in a row.

Her body still tingled from his caresses. She shuddered and brought her mug to her lips. The dark brew fortified her for the day ahead.

Hayden and her daddy were unloading the cattle truck and settling the new stock in a pasture near the house. These animals weren’t turned out into the north acres and given free rein. No, they would be tended closely.

The trim lines of Hayden’s spine as he reached for a heifer drew Zoe Beth’s attention. She could still feel his muscles flexing under her hands as he drove into her.

Tightening her thighs didn’t alleviate the ache—a throb that was becoming part of her everyday life.

She finished off her coffee and set the mug on the porch rail to retrieve later. Then she drifted across the yard to the cattle truck. The scents of manure grew stronger.

“Yah!” Hayden yelled, chasing two more cows out of the truck. Two men stood ready with ropes to lasso them and drive them toward the enclosure where they’d be kept.

The men repeated the process. Zoe Beth leaned against the side of the truck, admiring Hayden’s strength as he wrangled the unwilling beasts out of the truck.

“How many are there?”

“Small herd of twenty to start. A few are expecting. My guess is we’ll have twenty-four in a week.” Hayden shot her a look. “Why don’t you go back up to the house? I’m about to unload the bulls, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

She released a surprised laugh. “Why would I get hurt?”

Hayden leveled his dark gaze on her. A crease formed between his brows. “Just do as I say, Zoe Beth.”

Her stomach hollowed out at his hard tone. During lovemaking she’d heard it a dozen times. But out here his command sounded too much like her father’s.

She locked her knees and stood her ground.

Hayden disappeared into the truck. A slap resonated along with another “yah!” A small bull rushed out. It thundered past Zoe Beth, and one of the ranch hands got it under control before it could run full-tilt.

She watched the proceedings for a while, unsure just how high her level of annoyance was or who was going to hear about it.

A steely grip on her upper arm made her gasp. She spun to face Hayden. His eyes sparked.

“What are you doing, woman? I don’t want you anywhere near these bulls. They’re bred to be mean.”

She fought her wince at his too-tight hold and shook her arm twice before he released her. “I’ve been around animals since I was in diapers. There’s even a picture of me in nothing
but
a diaper, standing in the middle of a pasture full of cows. Why are you being so strange?”

He towed her a few feet toward the house. “Just stay back.”

“Meadows is right, Zoe Beth,” her father said from the sidelines. “Listen to those who know more.”

The punch of his words almost made her double over. She sucked in a strangled breath, battling tears that instantly jumped to her eyes. Turning on her boot heels, she stormed toward the house.

Grabbing the empty mug from the porch rail on the way by, she barreled into the house. Who did Hayden think he was, ordering her around like that? Telling her to flip over so he could fuck her from behind was one thing, but using that tone with her out here?

She shook her head and stomped into the kitchen. At this time of day, breakfast had been cleared away, and Mattie was taking a much-deserved break. Zoe Beth was grateful no one was there to witness the angry tears spilling from her eyes.

Knuckling them away, she leaned against the counter and seethed. Listen to those who know more? Why couldn’t they see she
was
one of those who knew more? She was smaller than the men, but she wasn’t exactly softer. She could hold her own, had proved it countless times.

That was exactly what she had to do.

She dragged a determined breath into her lungs and practically ran back to the yard.

Hayden was herding another bull off the truck. Its hooves slammed into the metal ramp with the sound of lightning striking the earth.

Zoe Beth jogged up to Ray, the ranch hand, and yanked the rope right out of his gloved grip. She made a hasty loop and threw it at the bull. The noose landed squarely over its head. She used the motion of her whole body to cinch the rope, then put her weight into pulling the bull in the direction she wanted it to go.

Ray stood back, cheering her on. In the back of her mind, she recognized a resounding roar as Hayden’s.
So close to his groan as he comes.

She ran ahead of the bull, tugging him by the neck. Hayden appeared at her side. “Damn you. You’re not going to get hurt on my watch!” He lunged for the rope, but she flipped the length in her hands out of his reach.

He plucked her right off her feet. She cried out as he hitched her against him in a viselike hold and removed the rope from her hands. She hadn’t taken the time to put on a pair of work gloves, and the sharp fibers ripped through her fingers.

Spitting mad and now bearing the sting of rope burn, she kicked at him. He continued to drag her along as he pulled the bull toward the enclosure. A grinning Mark opened the gate and grabbed the rope from Hayden as the bull ran in.

Zoe Beth struggled to free herself, but Hayden was stronger. And when she looked up into his face, she saw he was angrier.

He hauled her across several yards of turf and behind a round bale of hay so large no one could see them. “Damn you for not listening. Don’t you know those animals weigh thousands of pounds, can snap in an instant and crush you?”

She raised her chin a notch, meeting his glare. “I’ve done every job there is on this ranch, and I continue to do so even if there’s a new domineering foreman.”

“Dom—” His jaw clenched and unclenched, the joint working as he obviously crushed off his words. “This is about staying safe. There are rules to be followed so no one gets hurt.”

“Who was getting hurt?” She waved a hand toward the other prime stock that was already settled in the pasture. “Listen, I have a place on this ranch—”

“And it’s right goddamn here,” he grated out a split second before slamming his mouth over hers.

The wild scent of his anger and hard work claimed her. A breath trickled from her, and he captured it with a swipe of his tongue. Tendrils of need stole all thought. He locked her against his chest and kissed her until her panties were soaked and her mind was mush.

He cupped her pussy through her jeans and applied pressure to her slit. Need burst in her veins.

“Meadows!” her father’s voice drifted to their private spot behind the hay.

Hayden jerked from the kiss but held Zoe Beth by the upper arms. “I should bend you over my knee and spank your sweet little ass for scaring me.” As if to punctuate his statement, he released her arms and gripped her ass. His pinch made her squeal and squirm. Juices squeezed from her pussy.

Before she could catch her breath, he let her go and pulled her around the bale. “Go tend to Five Feet, sweetheart. The calf’s getting restless.”

Damn him.
The only thing that could diffuse the fury racing through her system was mention of the calf, and he knew it. She watched him stride back across the yard to the truck. Her daddy was nowhere in sight, and she breathed a sigh of relief that he might not have seen Hayden haul her behind the hay.

But Mark had. He gave her a sidelong look that made her stomach hurt. Her flirting had probably led him to believe he had a chance with her. She cast around for something to say.

Was it worse for Mark to believe Hayden was telling her off or kissing her breathless?

“Please don’t tell the others about that. I know what I’m doing even if that ass doesn’t think so.” She glared at Hayden’s back, and it wasn’t exactly an act. She was still so pissed off at him.

Mark relaxed and tugged his hat brim. “I know the work you’re capable of doing around here, Zoe Beth. There are others who do too.”

She tilted her head up to look at him. Some of her anger fell away. “Really?”

“Yeah, you’ve been pulling your weight as long as I’ve known you. You know just about everything there is to know about the Cole Ranch. Before your daddy hired Meadows, we all wondered if he might hand the duties of foreman over to you.”

Her mouth dried up. Shock rippled through her. The men believed she was capable of running the ranch? All at once her conversation with Hayden from their first night together in the back of the truck leaped into her mind. He’d told her not to give up on her hopes. Of course, he didn’t know at the time that what she wanted was to run this ranch.

She wanted an active role in taking care of the land and animals. Right now she was a drifter moving from one task to another, finding the loose ends and tying them up. Knowing that the men thought better of her than she could have ever imagined instilled that hope in her once more—hope that she could reach her goals.

A GROWL ROSE in Hayden’s throat as he stole a glance at Zoe Beth talking to Mark. They leaned toward each other—too close in Hayden’s opinion. Was she flirting again?

“Zoe Beth’s okay? Not hurt?” Val’s question jerked Hayden from his possessive haze.

“Oh yeah. I know she’s worked around livestock all of her life, but I didn’t want her to get hurt.”

Val nodded. Together, he and Hayden offloaded the last of the bulls. They stood side by side and watched the ranch hands move the animals toward the enclosure. When they neared Zoe Beth, Hayden’s chest tightened.

The old ache in his shoulder flared up. Apparently while worrying about Zoe Beth getting injured, he’d overextended himself. Either that or his worry about her being hurt had made his old injury respond.

He fought the urge to roll his shoulder, not wanting to appear weak in front of his boss.

“My daughter doesn’t realize her limitations at times. I take the blame, of course. I never restricted her. Gave her free rein of the ranch, let her try just about everything she wanted.” Val scuffed a hand over his clean-shaven jaw.

“Well, she’s good. Maybe she needs a duty of her own. Something that plays to her talents.”

Hayden’s jeans suddenly felt too tight at the thought of her talented fingers and mouth. Last night she’d stared up at him with those beautiful sea-green eyes while taking his shaft right into her throat.

He shifted his weight to his other boot to ease the throb in his cock.

Val pulled a tin of tobacco from his shirt pocket and tucked a plug into his cheek. “I’ve often considered giving her a job title if only to keep her out of trouble. She’s like a wild thing, running all over the ranch and sometimes helping the guys with things that are too much for her. She’ll never admit that she’s softer, smaller, and weaker than the men, even if she is resourceful.”

A warm feeling formed in Hayden’s chest, but he kept the smile off his face. He didn’t want to reveal his relationship with Val’s daughter.

“She knows everything about the animals though. Their history, health, the best places to sell. The peak times to pair them and how to care for illness and injuries. I think she needs a job that takes advantage of her knowledge,” Hayden said.

Across the clearing Zoe Beth climbed on the bottom rail of the fence and leaned over to run her hand over the side of one of the new cows.

“Sounds as if you’re saying Zoe Beth can be useful to you and your new project,” Val said.

Hayden jerked his head toward his boss. Yes, she’d be very helpful in getting together new records for the small herd, for starters. But could he work with her so closely? They were bound to get caught. He couldn’t keep his hands off her.

But if he didn’t keep her by him, who knew what trouble she’d get into on the ranch. Maimed by farm equipment or flirting with the ranch hands—both were things he couldn’t allow. And the thieves had returned a few nights ago, this time stealing several filled gas cans.

With a nod, he extended a hand to Val. “I’ll take her on as assistant if you’ll give your consent.”

Val’s eyes creased with his grin. “I thank you for taking the worry off my hands, Meadows. Good luck to you. She’s a spitfire.”

Chapter Eight

As Zoe Beth approached the barn, she rubbed her palms together. The sting of that rope burn bugged the hell out of her.

In the mudroom of the house, she’d located her gloves and stuffed them into her back pocket. It was time to get back on track and do her job right—whatever job it was.

For several strides she was distracted by the agitation inside her.
Where are my gloves?
She patted herself down till she found them in her back pocket. Then she pulled them free and tugged them into place. More annoying than the sting in her hands was her irritation with Hayden. Overbearing, overprotective. She’d spent her whole life working with animals, even finicky ones. And she’d wrangled bigger, meaner ones than that small bull, no matter what Hayden thought.

She pushed out a sigh. The day had turned too warm—or maybe she was still feeling the effects of Hayden’s assault behind the hay bale. She could still feel his finger pressing into her pussy through her jeans.