Chapter Sixteen

Meadow poured the strong, black coffee into a white mug with a monogram in gold printed on the front. She walked to the kitchen table and set it in front of her father.
The man had spent the night with the bottle. His slumped shoulders said enough, but when he cracked an eye and she saw the bloodshot state of it, she knew he was hurting.
He looked as if he wanted to say something to her, but only managed to dip his head gingerly one time  in a nod. Then he twisted the mug to grip the handle.
Stopping at the sight of the monogram, he ran a finger over the initial of her mother’s first name. A for Abigail.
More than anything, she wished her mother were here to handle her husband. At the same time, Meadow was glad her mother was spared the pain of losing her only son.
Forest was the only one who could ever handle their father after their mom passed away. For the first time ever, Meadow felt a swell of resentment fill her chest, for him leaving her alone to handle all this.
Only he hadn’t left her alone, had he? He sent Colton to her.
Her stomach bottomed out at thoughts of her lover. What made him return to the house last night? Was he coming back to her bed?
Then he’d discovered her in her father’s office, Forest’s letter in her hand, and after that, everything went to hell.
Walking out on her was a response to finding a letter addressed to him too. But scrabbling on the ground with Webb like a pair of pissed-off dogs was completely unacceptable.
She yanked out the kitchen chair with enough of a scraping noise on the floor to cause her father to wince. Good. Let him suffer.
Let them all suffer.
This morning, fury was her key emotion, not the love she’d felt last night when Colton stared into her eyes while moving inside her. Not the sadness at reading her dead brother’s final words to her.
No. She was furious.
“Did you enjoy your bottle of bourbon last night, Dad?”
He flinched at her cutting words and the loud quality of her voice that rang through the kitchen. With a jolt, she realized this wasn’t even a home anymore. It was just a space filled with appliances and food. What her mother had spent years making into a warm, cozy home for their family had withered the day she took that turn too fast on the icy mountain road.
There was nothing left but memories and a monogrammed mug.
Without a response, her father lifted that mug to his lips and took a sip of coffee. She sat back in her seat, staring at him, so many angry words trapped behind her teeth.
She wanted to scream until her vocal cords were shredded. But it wouldn’t do any good. Her father was beyond hearing.
With a grunt of irritation, she shoved away from the table and stalked out of the kitchen. She walked straight out of the house to the barn. She could ride, but today she didn’t have the patience she needed and feared driving her horse to the point of injury. A dark shadow seemed to have moved over her soul like a giant storm cloud hovering over the ranch, staining everything beneath it black.
She couldn’t fix this family. She could only make herself happy now. But how?
She loved Colton. Whether he would accept her love was another story. She didn’t need to look around to know that he was nowhere to be found. He’d be performing some chore as far away from her as possible.
Unable to contain the angry energy pounding through her veins, she grabbed a broom from the corner of the barn and began sweeping the floor in furious strokes. After ten minutes or so, the task began to settle her mind.
Her mother always cleaned when she was angry, and now Meadow saw those moments as something much more. Again, she wished she could talk to her momma and get her advice about what to do.
Mental clarity was a bitch though. The previous night when she realized she was in love with Colton, she saw a future for them, as bright and shiny as a brass tack against the worn leather of both of their lives to that point.
Now she couldn’t see past their coupling. Hot sex. Anger. Hadn’t their relationship been built on her infuriating him? Was that any way to start off a relationship?
She didn’t even know how he felt. For all she knew, she was completely wrong about those long, tender looks he sent her or how his caresses seemed to have changed between the first spanking he ever gave her and the last.
She stopped sweeping, gripping the broom, staring off into space, lost in reverie about what could only be called lovemaking the previous night.
The loud clunking noise of something metal being dropped somewhere on the ranch made one of the horses shift in its stall. Meadow began to sweep once again.
Then there was her father. Something was odd about his behavior. At first, she thought he was just under stress. Then it became clear that he was staying away from the ranch more and more, using any excuse he could not to come home. Was it so painful for him to be here?
Or was there another reason for those empty alcohol bottles she found shoved deep in the trash bin? She had to get to the bottom of it all. If she wanted to keep the ranch afloat, she had to find the magic that her mother once had.
Using the back of her wrist, she shoved strands of hair off her sweaty forehead. Who was she kidding? She didn’t have what it took to hold this place together—this family together. She should just take off like Ivy and live for herself.
“Three generations can go to hell,” she muttered.
“What was that?”
Irritated by the interruption of her private rant, she threw a glance over one shoulder to see Dude standing a few feet away. Concern drew twin lines between his brows, but he offered her the good-natured smile he was known for.
Of all the people she would want to interrupt her right now, Dude was just about the only one. She was ticked off at her father over his hiding whatever was going on. At Zach for starting the fight with Colton the previous night. And Colton for being…well, an infuriating ass.
Who should be spanking her ass—and kissing her and plunging his tongue inside her aching pussy—instead of pretending they meant nothing to each other.
She probably meant something to him long before he ever came to this ranch.
Dude’s smile dropped. “Everything all right, Meadow?”
Suddenly, thick tears swam in her eyes. She shook her head. “No. All wrong.”
He studied her before coming forward and taking the broom from her hand. He leaned it up against one of the horse stalls. “Can I do anything?”
Again, she shook her head, forcing her tears to recede. “Not a thing. But thank you.”
“It must be hell.”
She jerked her stare up to his. “What must be hell?”
“Having two men love you.”
She didn’t reveal her surprise that Dude had picked up on it. After all, he lived and worked with Zach since he came to the ranch over a year ago. If Colton picked up on Zach’s feelings in a few short days, Dude must have known for a lot longer.
But picking up that Colton loved her was altogether different. The man never uttered more than a few words to her. From what she could tell, he wasn’t even around to follow her with his eyes. So what did Dude see that she didn’t?
She didn’t get a chance to ask, because at that moment, Colton walked into the barn.
He looked straight at her. “I need to talk to you.”
With her heart thundering in her chest, she went to meet him.
What could be serious enough for him to actually come to her?

When he spotted the confusion in Meadow’s eyes, Colton’s stomach dropped. He never cared about being an asshole to women before. They were all one-night stands who meant nothing.
But hurting Forest’s sister made him feel lower than the manure on the bottom of a boot heel.
The urge to touch her, to drag her into his arms—hell, slam his cock into her—damn near stole his mind. He curled his fingers to keep from doing any of those things.
Instead, he twitched his head for her to follow.
Outside, the early morning sunlight had grayed. In the distance, over the mountains a thick gray line of rain moved this direction.
He led her around the barn and continued on to the far end of the training pen. When he leaned his elbows on the top rail of the fence and stared at the dirt, she came to stand at his side.
“Colton.” Her soft tone burrowed under his skin.
Hell, he wanted her more than anything he ever wanted before. That first year of military school, his parents left him there over the holidays, and he thought he’d never want anything more than to go home to his family.
Turned out there was one thing he wanted more.
And she stood at his side, still and silent, waiting to hear what he had to tell her.
“Forest’s letter.”
She moved closer to him, the sleeve of her blue and white plaid shirt brushing his.
He went on, “Forest told me to take the letter seriously because he was asking me to do something serious.”
“What was it?” Her hair fluttered around her beautiful face. A face he wanted to wake up seeing on the pillow beside him for the rest of his days.
He swallowed a lump. “He said it isn’t a small commitment but a lifelong one.” He held her stare. “He wants me to be with you. Same as he told you in your letter.” Before she could speak, he plowed ahead. “He said he admires your drive, your determination. That maybe you have the biggest heart in the Gracey family—the only heart.”
She shook her head.
“But that ever since your momma died, you’ve been an uncontrolled wildfire, Meadow. And Forest needed to know that you’re with someone who can tame that fire. Properly direct it. And help keep you from wrecking everything.”
“How kind of him.”
The corner of his lips twitched at her sarcasm. “What he didn’t say is something I know well.”
Big baby blues stared up at him. “What’s that?”
He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out to stroke the curve of her cheek. “It’s what comes after a fire, Meadow. The rebirth, the regrowth.”
She blinked rapidly. “You mean that in the face of all this tragedy…that it’s time for a transformation.”
He nodded and cupped her cheek. “He wanted me to be with you.”
She let out a hiccup of a sob and leaned into his palm. Unable to wait another second, he swooped in and claimed her mouth.
The tender brush of his lips drew a moan from them both. Then in a fit of that wildness, she threw herself at Colton. He caught her against his chest and reveled in her bruising kisses and the points of her nails in his shoulders as she clawed at him.
“Take me. Here. Now. Anywhere! Just take me, Colton. I need to feel you moving inside me. I need you.”
A primitive growl rumbled through his chest. Cradling her lush ass in his hands, he carried her a few steps, out of the direct view of the rest of the ranch.
For weeks he’d been noticing all these little spots where he could take Meadow without being seen. Unless someone walked right up on them, they would have privacy here.
He kissed her with all the passion coursing through him. His cock hardened even more at the demanding swipe of her tongue through his mouth.
The woman was a princess—no, a queen. She deserved much, much more than to be bent over a rough-hewn fence. She deserved silks and furs. Candlelight and roses. Bubble baths.
But she isn’t asking for any of those things, is she?
She only asked for him.
She clawed off his shirt. Raked her short nails down his spine. He cupped her breast and swiped his thumb across her nipple, causing her to cry out.
When she struggled to remove her top, he helped her. As soon as her warm skin touched his, they shared a sound of longing and hurled themselves into their connection, bringing it to another level.
He felt the shift in her. She probably felt it too.
“I’m done fighting this, Meadow.”
“About time.”
“I want you.”
“Finally figured it out, did ya?”
He gripped her ass hard. “You’re just begging for another spanking.”
She whirled to face the fence. Grinding his hard cock against her ass, he reached for her fly. As soon as he made enough space to sink his hand inside her panties, he slid his fingers inside. No opportunity would be passed by when it came to touching Meadow.
He’d spent all night lying awake in his bunk, alone, aching for the only person in the universe he wanted the same way he wanted to breathe.
As he stroked the damp folds of her pussy, she thrust into his hand.
He pulled out his hand and in one swift move, tugged her jeans and underwear down, exposing her beautiful ass.
Cock throbbing, he caressed her sweet, round curves while one-handedly freeing his cock.
When he fit the thick head at her soaked opening, he settled his lips at her ear. “You. Are. Mine.”
She made a soft noise, and in one hard shove, he filled her.
Claimed her.
Her clenching heat blinded him to his surroundings. The ranch could be under siege. They could be getting shelled for all he knew. His only thought was filling this woman with every ounce of love he felt for her.
When her pussy tightened in rhythmic pulsations, he took her earlobe between his teeth and let go of all restraint. Jets of cum showered her pussy.
Pleasure stole over him, his senses so heightened.
Then she said something that changed everything.
“I love you, Colton. I love you.” A final shiver rolled up and down her spine. Where he gripped her by one hip, she covered his hand with her own and meshed their fingers in a united front.
From this moment forward, where she was, Colton would be. From now on…they fought together.
He just didn’t know how close the war really was.