To Claim a Wilde (Wilde In Wyoming Book 6) (14 page)

She was so thirsty she was very tempted to chug it straight from the bottle when a deep, masculine voice, one eerily similar to Canton’s, spoke. Naomi jumped and nearly dropped the container of fresh juice all over the perfectly clean granite counter.

It dawned on her that first, some unseen answering system had picked up the call, and second, it was Canton’s older brother, Tiber, on the other end. She didn’t know people even used answering machines anymore. Curious, unashamedly she listened to his brother speak, a smile on her face. Wow, the two brothers sounded alike. But she knew the difference right away. Her Canton’s drawl was the slightest bit more...earthy than his brother’s.

Way sexier.

Hmm.

She shook her head at herself. She had it bad, no lie about that. Somewhat listening but not really, Tiber’s next words stopped her cold.

“Lastly, I got the report on the liens. Good to see you’re taking care of the McBrides. Out of all of the liens, it’s good to know Rolling Hills didn’t have theirs. I agree with you, it’s in our best interest to have it. Okay, so answer your damn cell phone, would you? I feel like a fool calling a landline. Who the hell does that anymore?” his brother griped. Had Naomi not been in a state of shock, she would have laughed that he’d somewhat echoed her sentiments.

With that the static on the other end he’d disconnected the phone.

She let the entire conversation soak in.

He had deceived her.

From the beginning he’d hidden the truth.

Rolling Hills didn’t have the lien to her family’s land. The Wildes did.

Tears ran unchecked down Naomi’s face.

Gaining momentum, the scalding tears fell down onto the counter as, numb, Naomi couldn’t move a muscle.

It was then she heard a sound. She glanced up to see Canton in the doorway, frozen, his handsome face staring into hers.

Her face hardened, turning to stone.

“Wait, baby, I can explain!”

“Save it. God, I was so damn stupid! To think you actually cared about me.” She threw the angry words at him, but immediately stopped and shook her head.

“It’s not like that, and you know I do! If I didn’t, I would have let your family suffer from your father’s inability to take care of his household, but I didn’t!”

She turned stricken eyes toward him, his callous-sounding words putting the final nail in the coffin.

“Damn! Baby, I didn’t mean it like that, please!” She ran away him, darting around his big—naked—body; she evaded his outstretched hands and ran into the bedroom.

She had to get away. Now.

Canton watched Naomi gather her clothes. He went to touch her and she drew back as though he’d struck her.

“Leave me the hell alone!” she bit out; her anger a tangible thing, her hand whipped out and slapped him, hard, across the face.

Before he could react, before he could run after her, she’d left.

After the shock of her slap had worn off, he hopped one foot and then the other through the legs of his tuxedo pants from the night before and tore through the house. By the time he made it to his garage, the door was opening and his woman and his Jag were nothing but a cloud of dust.

Damn it!

Chapter 18

C
anton had completed no less than ten drive-bys, circling the entire area where Naomi’s family resided, along with three other small ranches. Finally, before he got arrested, he came to a halt and parked his truck in front of her family’s home.

Although it was cold, he cut the engine, not wanting to draw her or her family’s attention before he was ready.

If any of her neighbors caught him driving by at ten miles an hour, as secluded as the area was, they’d have the CPD on him in two point two, as Naomi would say.

Thinking of Naomi and her funny little sayings brought the beginnings of a smile to tug at his lips. God, he missed her like hell.

Canton sighed, thinking of the last time he’d seen her.

It had been two weeks. The first day, he’d come by her house and had been told by her parents that she was not home and was out with a friend.

Struck with a jealousy so wild, so out of control, his first thought had been that the new doctor who’d joined the clinic was the one his woman was out with.

So pissed off, he’d lost it, demanded to know who she was with, with his face tight and fists balled at his sides, anger rolling off him in waves.

It was then he learned where Naomi had inherited her dual nature. She could be as sweet and mild as any man could want. Pliant, loving and the best lover he’d ever had.

But then...well, she could go into beast mode. He’d witnessed the swiftness with which she could go from lamb to lion when prodded.

He’d always thought of Dean McBride as mild-mannered, a very easy-tempered man.

Until it came to his daughter.

In no uncertain terms, he’d told Canton, his gray eyes now cold, that he knew what he’d done, how he had manipulated his child.

His face, a much lighter brown than his Naomi’s, was flushed with anger. He’d gone on to tell him that he would pay his family back every cent of the “blood money” they owed. Plus interest.

“I don’t know if my daughter told you the whole story, Mr. Wilde. Why we got into trouble financially in the first place.”

Hesitatingly, Canton shook his head no. The older man, with pride in his voice, told him the story of how and why his family had gotten into debt. Canton noticed that as Dean McBride spoke, he didn’t try to make himself out to be a hero, either for paying Naomi’s way through school—in Dean’s words, that was his responsibility as a father and provider—or for helping his neighbor in times of financial hardship. Again, that was what he believed his job was to do.

Much as the Wildes believed they were their brother’s keeper.

There were others, much less financially well-off than the Wildes, who felt the same spirit of community.

Canton was humbled.

After he finished speaking, the pride in the older man’s eyes light gray eyes as he met Canton’s gaze made Canton feel like an idiot. And a jerk.

He also realized how much he loved Naomi. She held the same sense of self as her father, the same love for family and community as well. He thought back over everything he’d learned about her, from the first moment he met her until now.

God, he loved her.

The kind of deep, soul-wrenching love that a man was lucky to come across once in a lifetime.

“I’m sorry, Mr. McBride. Please, please forgive me. It was never my intent to hurt her.” Even to his own ears, he heard the desolation in his voice. Though simple, his words held a wealth of emotion.

Dean McBride’s eyes had warmed and he’d invited Canton inside his home. There, the two men had discussed the terms of the repayment of his debt to the Wildes.

Canton never had any intention on asking for any repayment, but knew Dean’s pride would never allow that.

After that, he’d told Canton that he and his wife planned to go out of town for a few days.

Canton hadn’t understood why he told him that until he went on further to say they would ask Naomi to come and take care of the cat and plants for their two-day “staycation,” as Dean referred to his and Roslyn’s trip to a neighboring town.

A genuine smile graced Colton’s face.

He was going to get his baby back.

In his demand to try to find out who she was with, instead he’d learned yet another thing about the woman he loved: she came from a family as devoted to one another as the Wildes were.

He’d called her cell to no avail. He had eventually given up when it would go directly to voice mail. Either she had a new phone or a new number, or whenever he would call, she’d decline it. Either way, she wasn’t answering him.

He’d gone by the clinic as a last resort, and had been gently but sternly turned away by Mrs. Mason.

But he had Dean McBride on his side. He’d opened up to the man and told him how much he loved his daughter. He’d see her. Soon.

Now, as he sat in his truck, the engine cut, he still hesitated.

She was inside, this much he knew.

Her father would only help so much. He wouldn’t give him a clue to how his daughter was feeling. But that was fine with Canton. He was a man and knew how to get his woman. He’d apologize for being an ass and not telling her up front that his family had already bought the lien, which would have saved her the stress he’d been able to relieve.

And she would forgive him, and they’d live happily ever after, damn it.

He shook his head at his own machismo. “Okay, so why are you still sitting in your truck, then?” he chided himself.

Damn. He hadn’t realized just how much he loved her until he’d hurled the careless words at her.

The hurt look in her pretty brown eyes had haunted him for the past two weeks.

He ran a hand through his disheveled hair.

She was so far under his skin, he felt her even when she was nowhere around him. The love he had for her had been building from day one, seven years ago.

He jumped out of his truck and slammed the door behind him.

But not before he checked the pockets of his jacket to make sure he still had the little square box he’d been carrying around for the past two weeks.

It was now or never.

With purpose in his stride, he walked toward her front door.

Chapter 19

“H
old on, hold on!” Naomi mumbled as she stumbled off the sofa, the pounding on the door finally penetrating the fog of sleep.

She righted herself and squinted, glancing over at the corner of the room and the grandfather clock.

Who in the world would be coming here at this time of night? she wondered, noting the near midnight hour.

Her parents weren’t supposed to be back for a few days.

But even so, they would hardly need to knock to gain entrance into their own home.

She stood, pulling the white wifebeater she wore of Canton’s down to cover her, even though the shirt fanned nearly to her knees.

As she neared the door, right before she rose on tiptoe to peep through the little window, a feeling swept over her, an awareness...

Canton Wilde stood on the other side of the door. Her heart jackhammered against her rib cage.

Emotional tears burned the back of her eyes, but she refused to give in to them. She’d cried enough over the past two weeks.

He had his head bowed, hands buried inside his leather bomber jacket.

She glanced down at herself, but didn’t have time to run and grab a robe. With a mental shrug and a large sigh, she unlocked the door and opened it wide.

“Hey.”

His deep voice resonated through her body and Naomi’s glance rose to meet Canton’s as he stepped inside the foyer, closing the heavy door behind him.

“Hey...” she replied, a catch in her voice

Once she got a good look at him, a soft cry escaped her lips.

A rough stubble covered his lean cheeks; his hair was disheveled; lines of fatigue scored the sides of his sensual mouth.

“God, I missed you,” he said before she could speak. Reaching out, he roughly pulled her to his body, enveloping her in his warm embrace.

Naomi bit back the cry of love she felt wanting to tumble out of her mouth.

She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what she should say. She knew only that she missed him so much, she’d felt empty without him.

But she was still so damn hurt by him.

When she made no response, simply allowed him to hug her, he finally released her, setting her back from him.

He stared at her, nostrils flaring, waiting, she knew, for some response from her...

A small tic in the corner of his sexy, chiseled mouth was the only indicator of how he felt; his blue-eyed gaze, steady, unflinchingly locked with hers.

She broke her glance with him and ran her eyes over him, head to toe. In addition to his hair being disheveled and obviously in need of a trim, the stubble on his face was heavier than what it appeared to be from initial observation.

“I trusted you.”

When she finally spoke, she saw the immediate response from him to her words. Emotion flared to life in the depths of his bright blue eyes quickly before dying out.

He opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.

“Not only did I trust you, I believed you were a good man. I even felt guilty about leaving that night.” She felt a burn in the back of her throat and stopped, her eyes clogged with tears.

“But obviously I made the right decision. I thought you were nothing more than a careless playboy who didn’t really give a crap about anyone besides himself and his precious Wildes, and I was right.” She bit out the words and turned away before he could read the emotion she knew was in her eyes.

“My family is all I have. Just like you. We’re proud, yeah, okay, I’ll give you that. You were right about that. But there was more to it than that. Mom and Dad worked hard, damn hard, to put me through school. I had no idea until recently how hard,” she began and felt the threat of tears fall as she thought again of her parents’ sacrifice for her.

As much as she loved him, remembering the nasty words he threw at her made her want to slap his chiseled mouth.

She began to back toward the living room, not really caring if he followed her or not.

At least, that’s what she told herself.

For a moment she thought he wouldn’t. She’d nearly made it to the living room when she heard the sound of his boots hitting the wood floor, and seconds later, before she realized his intent, big hands grabbed her, turned her around and hauled her into his arms.

“Canton, let go of—” Her words were swallowed in his mouth, her body in his embrace.

Lifting her high into his arms, he made love to her mouth as he walked farther inside her parents’ home.

Finally he released her mouth enough to mumble around it, “Which way?”

“Huh?” she asked, dazed and confused, her hands grasping the back of his head, as she gave in to the demand of his kiss.

“Bedroom. Yours.”

The succinct way he spoke, the harshness of his voice, all told her what she already knew; Canton was holding on by a thread.

“Straight back, last door on left.”

She didn’t even try to fight him.

What was the use, anyway?

He found his way to her bedroom in the semidark house. If she’d been in another frame of mind, she would have ribbed him on how easy it was for him to find it.

But not now.

He reached her room, but didn’t bother flipping on lights as he went directly to the bed and dumped her on the soft mattress.

Canton followed her down, never losing contact with her lips. In between muffled kisses, groans and moans, they frantically began to undress each other, each anxious to get at the other.

She knew they still needed to discuss some “stuff.” But not now.

“Baby, I missed you so damn much,” he said, framing her face within his big palms. “I don’t know how long the first time will last...” he said and she groaned with the feel of his big, naked body covering hers.

“Baby...it’s okay. I’m in the same boat,” she said, and he laughed shortly.

He slipped a hand between their entwined bodies, separating the lips of her vulva and testing her readiness.

She moaned, burying her head in the crook of his neck, embarrassed at how wet she already was for him, and he’d barely touched her.

He growled, bringing his finger to his mouth. Forcing her to watch, he licked her cream completely from his finger.

“Baby...love me,” she begged. “Just love me.”

That was all of the encouragement that Canton needed to hear.

He tried his best to be as gentle as possible. But it had been so long since he’d felt her wrapped around him. And he was so damn hard, so randy, he was lucky he didn’t embarrass the hell out of himself and spill outside her, before he got the chance to feel her.

“Damn it!” he growled, and her frantic eyes met his.

“
What?!
What is it?” she asked, her body grinding against his, searching for what she needed, what he wanted, to bring them both the release they so desperately craved.

“No condom.”

There was only a heartbeat of silence. Then his baby brought her small hands between them, reached down, grasped his cock and guided him to her entry.

“Baby...? You sure?” he asked, a wealth of emotion in his voice. He knew, more than words, what it meant for her to silently accept him with no protection.

With a groan, he helped her guide the pulsing head into her welcoming body, as he carefully, as gently as he could, pushed inside until he was seated fully inside her body, his balls hitting the lips of her vulva.

Once embedded, Canton stopped, forehead meeting hers, not moving; he savored the feeling of being back inside this amazing woman.

He felt complete.

He’d
never
had such a feeling of wholeness, of...rightness, as he did now, inside Naomi.

He adjusted her onto his shaft and, grasping her round, sexy hips, began to rock slowly inside her.

As badly as he wanted to go balls to the wall with her, give her
all
of him, fill her up until she flowed over...with him...he tried his best to keep it slow, relaxed as he nestled inside her warm heat and rocked inside her.

He needed to come, needed to feel her come around him, but still, he took his time with her.

As he made love to her, as they made love to each other, he wanted to savor it and her.

Relish and marinate in her.

Drown himself in all that was Naomi.

They’d been together a short time, all things considered. Yet it felt like a lifetime.

He wanted to give her a lifetime of loving and wanted to receive the same in return.

Naomi knew what he was doing, knew he wanted to go slow with her. But she wasn’t having it.

And she knew just what to do to get her man to give her what she wanted.

She buried her face in his chest. Her tongue struck out, licked his male nipple as she wrapped her legs around his lean waist, her heels digging into his firm, tight ass.

“Goodness, baby...what...what are you doing to me?” he asked, his voice harsh, breaking.

She could feel how close to the edge he was, knew that if she weren’t careful, he’d go completely over. That along with his rough talk turned her on even more.

“I missed you... God, I missed you,” she replied, her own voice little more than a whisper as she met his long, languid strokes as he glided in and out of her.

He was feeding her just enough, enough to get her feeling good, right, but not enough to take her over the edge.

He picked up the pace and lifted one of her breasts. His tongue snaked out, stroked the nipple, before his mouth engulfed the upper swell. Naomi’s body hummed and tingled, the beginning of her orgasm hovering.

“Canton...oh God, oh God, oh God...” She began the low chant, her fingers tightening in his hair at his nape, as she began to give in to the feeling he was helping to create inside her.

As his thrusts picked up cadence, so did his attention to her breasts, first one and then the other. With his sucking and strokes, she was losing her mind in the sensation of feeling.

She reached between their bodies and cupped his tightly drawn sac, gently caressed it and smiled a feminine grin when he growled against her breasts in obvious pleasure at her touch.

He released her breasts, threw his head back and yelled as he released.

“I love you, baby, I love you, Naomi!” he yelled as his hot seed jettisoned into her body.

“Yes! I love you too, Canton!” Within seconds, Naomi was joining him.

As she accepted his seed, accepted him, their screams of release and passion echoed and rebounded off the bedroom walls as they reached satisfaction in unison.