He was beautiful.
He rocked inside her again and she came, a low moan erupting from her throat. Her muscles quivered as the orgasm swept through her. She gasped with relief, curling her toes as he surged deep again. Then he was coming too, the cords in his neck standing out as his entire body shook with the force of his orgasm. Miranda watched him with fascination, memorizing the lines of his face in that vulnerable moment. She could watch him forever.
Dane leaned heavily over her, panting, and pulled her close for one last kiss. “Thank you.”
She gave him a breathy laugh and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him on top of her fully. The heavy weight of him atop her was a delicious feeling. “Why are you thanking me?”
He leaned in and kissed her nose. “Morning sex always takes the edge off the day. Now I don’t have to worry about those kids getting on my nerves. I can just go through the day in a daze of endorphins.”
Miranda laughed. When he tried to roll off of her, she shook her head and tugged him close again. “Not yet,” she said softly. “You have a few minutes before you have to leave, and I kind of want to hold on to you for a bit longer.”
He grinned down at her. “You do realize I’m only going overnight, right?”
A day, true. But she didn’t have many more days here. She avoided his gaze and ran a light finger over the muscles in his arms, tracing the veins. “Even that can seem like forever,” she said lightly. “Is it such a crime to like the feel of you over me?”
Dane gave her an intense look, all teasing leaving his gaze. The grin slid from his mouth, and she recognized the flare of desire in his eyes. “Not in my book.”
And with that, he rocked his hips, just a little. Enough to remind her that he was still seated deep inside her. And he was already hard again.
The breath caught in her throat and her gaze flew back to him.
“You said we had a few minutes yet, right?” He leaned in and kissed her, then tugged her lower lip into his mouth, sucking on it lightly for a moment before releasing it. “I think we should make the most of it.”
“I’m game,” she said lightly and pulled him closer. Sometimes, she thought she could stay in his arms forever.
After Dane left, she picked through some of the stuff in her house. She was restless, something vaguely nagging her. Guilt for her relationship with Dane? Beth Ann hadn’t been happy when they’d talked last, and she hated the thought of disappointing her best friend.
She picked up her phone to call and noticed her mother had called again, twice. No messages. Probably just checking in. She should stop by and visit her anyhow. She had a box of stuff to drop off, and it’d give her a chance to swing by the salon and visit Beth Ann. Talk for a bit, maybe explain that things weren’t the way they seemed.
Because really, they didn’t seem like wise decisions at the moment.
Miranda drove into town, parking her truck in front of her mother’s antiques store. The crooked sign wobbled in the breeze, and she sighed at the sight of it. Someday she’d have to pay to get that fixed. The inside of the store was quiet, and she found her mother sitting on a trunk, crying quietly in the back storage room.
“Mom?”
Her mother looked up as Miranda entered, and only cried harder.
Oh jeez. Her mother had always been a little fragile of spirit, and her crying jags could mean anything. Lately they had meant that she was sad Miranda was leaving for Houston, but they’d talked about this already. She tamped down the feeling of annoyance and sat next to her mom on the trunk, patting her back. “You okay, Mom? What’s bothering you?”
“Oh, Miranda,” her mom wept. “I don’t know how to tell you this. It’s just like before.”
“What’s like before?”
Her mother waved a dramatic hand in the air. “The rumors, the laughing. The staring. The people that come by to tell me what he’s doing to you.”
A cold pit started in Miranda’s stomach. Her mother was overreacting again. “You mean my dating Dane, Mom?”
Tanya hissed, as if the thought caused her pain. “Not dating. He’s using you,” she accused. “Just like before. He’s going to use you for sex and then post pictures of it all over the place to inflate his own sorry ego.”
Miranda flinched. “It’s not like that.”
“It’s not?” her mother said bitterly. “I looked. The pictures are still up. If he liked you so much, why are they still on the Internet for everyone to see?”
Miranda pursed her lips, hard, and continued to stroke her mother’s back. She’d always had to be the adult in their relationship, the one who assured her mom that everything was okay. Even still…her question made twisted sense, and Miranda didn’t like that. “It’s not like that—”
“No?” Her mother turned tear-bright eyes to Miranda, and her chin wobbled as she mopped at her cheeks with wadded-up Kleenex. “Then tell me how it is, Miranda Jane Hill. Does he take you out on the town? Buy you nice dinners?”
Well, no, they’d stayed at Miranda’s tiny house the entire time. “Mom—”
“Does he introduce you to his friends? Take you to his house?”
An uncomfortable feeling prickled through Miranda. She said nothing.
“Oh, baby,” her mother said in a sad, sad voice. “Did you forget how he treated you all those years ago?”
A knot burned in her throat and she stood. “I haven’t forgotten.”
The conversation with her mother had been disturbing in its accuracy—and at the same time, inaccuracy. Her mind was full of questions that she had no answers for. Was Dane using her? But she’d approached him, she’d been the one to declare their relationship a secret. It had been her idea for them to use each other for sex. It had been Dane that had said he was going to break the news to Colt and Grant, let them know he and Miranda were together. They’d taken it surprisingly well, given that Dane had been sleeping with a client. There’d been no fallout at all.
That bothered her a little.
Her head was full of questions that she had no answers to, and she needed to talk to someone. Instead of getting back in her car, she headed down the street to Beth Ann’s salon.
As she entered, another woman was leaving—Mary Ellen Greenwood. She gave Miranda a dismissive look as she entered, clutching her purse more tightly under her arm, as if Miranda’s presence might somehow contaminate her.
Miranda put a hand to the collar of her shirt and tugged it upward.
Beth Ann was sweeping hair in the main salon room and looked up as Miranda entered. “Hey, honey,” she said, her voice uncertain.
“My mom is crying,” she gestured down the street to the antiques store. “She thinks Dane’s using me.”
Beth Ann sighed and shook her head, continuing to sweep.
“Well?”
“Well what?” Beth Ann looked up, her expression grim. “Do you want me to tell you the truth, or do you want me to tell you what you want to hear?”
Ouch. Miranda stared at her. “I want you to tell me the truth, Beth Ann. You’re my best friend. If I can’t count on you, who can I count on?”
Beth Ann patted the barber’s chair. “Sit. I’ll tell you what I know.”
As Miranda sat down, Beth Ann swept a hot pink leopard cape over Miranda’s shoulders. “I went and visited Colt the other day…”
SIXTEEN
H
er eyebrows waxed, nails manicured, and heart aching, Miranda got back into the car and stared out the windshield without seeing a thing. Dane hadn’t told the others he was dating her. He’d told her he would, and that everything was okay. Why was he keeping her a secret from his friends, unless he’d never planned to take things seriously between them at all?
Worst of all, everyone in town knew. She’d stopped by the hardware store and had heard the “Boobs of Bluebonnet” whispered again, and her heart sank. In a small town, it was impossible to keep a secret, but damn. If everyone already knew they were sleeping together, why
hadn’t he told his friends—the ones that counted?
It was just like before, except worse. Because she should have known better this time.
Her phone rang and Miranda jumped, digging her cell phone out of her purse. Was it Dane calling? Had his class been canceled and and he’d decided to swing by? She hated the little thrilling flip her heart had given at the thought. But that was silly—he didn’t even have her number.
The caller ID showed a phone number she didn’t recognize. “Hello?”
“Miranda Hill?” The chirpy voice said on the other end. “This is Kacee Youngblood with HGI Incorporated. I wanted to give you the details about your drug test. We’ll need you to complete it before you begin work here at HGI.”
“Oh, of course,” she mumbled, and halfheartedly listened as the woman chirped instructions in her ear. She hung up after agreeing to head into Houston tomorrow to get the tests taken care of.
Her mind was still stuck on Dane, and her heart felt like it was shattering into a million pieces. When had this turnabout happened? When had she gone from user to the one being used? Was she truly that stupid? He’d promised her he’d tell them. Promised. And he’d been so sweet and charming about it. He’d been the one to suggest it, not her.
Someone was lying to her. Maybe Beth Ann had heard wrong. Maybe Colt was lying.
Instead of going home, she turned her car onto the highway, heading for the Daughtry Ranch, her heart aching with every mile. When she turned in, the parking lot had a scatter of cars. They had a class today. She stepped over the rope railing that served as a partition for the parking lot and began to stride through the grass, heading for one of the trails. This class would be students. He couldn’t be taking them far—
“Can I help you?”
A man jogged up behind her, and Miranda wasn’t thrilled to see it was Grant.
“Hey, Miranda,” Grant said with an easy smile. “We didn’t get a chance to talk the other day. It’s nice to see you again—”
“I’m looking for Dane,” she said, continuing to stomp forward.
“He’s out in a class right now. He won’t be back until tomorrow.” Grant parked himself in front of her, effectively blocking the path. “Is there something that I can help you with?”
“I really need to talk to Dane, actually—”
Grant didn’t budge, but he gave her a friendly smile and gestured back at the main cabin. “You want to come in and hang out for a bit since you’re here? Colt’s out with students, too, so it’s just me and Brenna. We can catch up—I hear you’ve been here in Bluebonnet for the past nine years.”
Oh, lovely. Like she wanted to talk about the town right now. “I just…”
Grant smiled at her. “This is perfect, actually. We were hoping you’d come back. We need your picture for the student hall of fame board.”
She gestured at the woods. “But Dane—”
“He doesn’t have to be involved for the picture,” Grant said with an easy smile. “It’s fine.”
She stared at him for a long, long moment, not moving. Waiting for him to break character, to show her that he’d been teasing and he knew perfectly well that she was in a relationship with Dane. That he was just giving her a hard time.
But he said nothing, continued to patiently wait for her.
“Did you know I fucked Dane?”
He stiffened, his smiling expression growing dark. “Excuse me?”
“I was one of Dane’s students,” she pointed out, hurt by his shocked surprise and wanting to hurt back. “I approached him that first night and made a pass at him. Then we met in the woods and he fucked me. And then we fucked almost every night out there.”
Grant’s face grew stiff with anger, his mouth thinning. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, actually. He loves fucking me. In fact, we’re still fucking,” she said with a bitter laugh. “He disappears at my house every night and we fuck like bunnies until morning.” Fury and hurt exploded through her. “He told me he was going to tell you and Colt that we’re sleeping together, but it looks like that was a lie. I’m guessing that isn’t the only thing he’s lied about lately, huh?”
The words choked in her throat, and she whirled to go, stomping away on the gravel path back to the parking lot. She waited for him to try and stop her, but he didn’t, and when she looked back, Grant was staring at the woods with a thoughtful expression.
Miranda slammed the car door and drove home.
Time to put the plan in action.
“Just remember that we do all kinds of survival classes—from school-age to adult, beginners to experts.” Dane said as he shook hands and offered pamphlets. The class had gone well—it was their first school group, and he’d been a little nervous, but the kids had taken to the classes with enthusiasm. There’d been no problems on the overnight, and they’d all had a good time telling stories around the campfire and bunking out. The class should have wrapped earlier today, but the kids had been so enthusiastic that he’d dragged the lessons out for a bit longer and then treated them to a round of paintball, and they’d been more than happy to take him up on it. It had been fun. He liked kids. He wouldn’t mind doing more classes with children, he decided, and made a mental note to ask Brenna to schedule more of them. Maybe they could do a summer survival camp for kids.
Brenna jogged up next to him. “Oh, good. You’re back. Grant’s been looking for you since yesterday.”
He tried not to groan. Grant was not his favorite person to see at the end of a class. The micromanager in his friend wanted a complete detail of how the class had gone, from what tasks they’d performed to what each person had worn. Grant wanted to take all the details that he could and record them, and then study and analyze in the hopes of improving the client experience. Of course, Colt thought he did it just to keep himself occupied. Dane wasn’t sure. Either way, a long, intensive, detailed narration was not what he had in mind right now. He missed Miranda and wanted to go home and curl up in bed with her. “Grant? What about?”
“Dunno,” Brenna said, shrugging her shoulders and wrinkling her nose, as if the thought of Grant made her queasy. “He was upset about something. Insisted on talking to you as soon as you got back. If you want to run out, now’s the time.”
He grinned at Brenna. She was like a kid sister to him and Colt. To Grant, she was a messy, disorganized, lackadaisical nemesis. She didn’t care for Grant’s micromanagement either, and would have been fired a long time ago if it wasn’t for Colt and Dane. “All right,” he said, and squinted up at the setting sun. “It’s getting late. I’m going to head into town for the night. If he’s looking for me, tell him I’ll be back tomorrow morning for the next class.”
She winked at him, her green eyes laughing. “Got it. I will thoroughly enjoy telling him that.”
“I imagine you will.” Dane laughed.
Miranda’s street was dark, but the lights were on in her bedroom, and he knocked at the front door softly. The wildflowers in his hand had seemed vibrant when he’d picked them back at the ranch, but they had wilted in the car on the drive over. Hopefully that wasn’t a sign of how the evening would go.
“It’s open,” she called.
He stepped inside. The living room was dark and tidied—the boxes that had scattered the room were stacked neatly in the corner of the room. He couldn’t tell where she’d unpacked more, however. Lights flickered in the bedroom, and he headed in that direction.
The room was lit with dozens of flickering candles, the bed stripped of everything but a sheet. Miranda lay on the bed, completely naked except for a pair of red fuck-me pumps and a slick of lip gloss. His cock went immediately hard at the sight.
“Welcome back,” she said in a soft, throaty voice. “I missed you.”
Damn, he’d missed her, too. He watched her sit up, dark brown hair spilling over her shoulder, and felt as if he was going to lose control right then and there. The sultry way she was eyeing him did crazy things to his mind.
“This is a nice surprise,” he said, grinning, and presented the flowers. “Makes mine seem kind of pathetic in comparison.”
“That’s okay,” she said lightly, getting up from the bed and taking the flowers out of his hands. “I’ll make up for it.”
Her hands were immediately on his shirt, tugging it over his head and then tossing it to the side. He leaned in to kiss her, but she gave him a teasing, coy smile. “My turn to lead tonight.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” Dane sucked in a breath when her hand went to his cock and stroked it through the fabric of his jeans.
“Hard already,” she purred. “Guess you did miss me.”
“Like crazy,” he said, leaning in to kiss her.
Again, she moved away, giving him a coquettish little frown. “My games tonight.”
“You want to be in charge?” At her sexy little nod, he felt a thrill flow through his body. “All right.”
She ran her hands over his skin as she undressed him, ripping his clothes away from his body.
It was an incredible turn-on, and yet…there was something about Miranda’s single-mindedness that was bothering him. When she ripped his boxers away, he grasped her hands and pulled her naked body against his. “Slow down. We have all night.”
She relaxed against him, her hands stroking over his skin. “Sorry,” she said with a breathless smile. “I was getting carried away.”
“Oh?”
“I have a surprise for you.” There was a fierce glint in her eyes.
His hands slid down, cupped her beautiful ass and pulled her against him. “I’m all ears.”