Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
“So she hasn’t been a part of Remy’s life?” Joy asked. “You have full custody?”
“Custody…shit. I don’t have any paperwork. I mean, she left, and I did my best.”
“And she never came back?”
Here was the dark truth. One Joy might judge me for. Humans believed in things like shared custody and shit like that.
“I, uh, I quit the circuit, but I’d heard she’d moved back to our hometown, so I took the job here at Wolf Ranch instead.”
“I don’t blame you for setting boundaries like that,” Joy said immediately. “I mean, the last thing you’d want is Remy getting attached to her and having her ghost Remy again. A newborn’s one thing; they don’t remember. But a four-year-old won’t forget.”
Relief swept through me. “Exactly. I’m so glad you understand.”
“So she hadn’t seen Remy since she left?”
I shook my head. “No. Like I said, we traveled from one rodeo event to the next. We came through Montana and Boyd Wolf–an old buddy from the circuit–came to see us. When he saw I was raising a kid on the road like that, he offered me a job on Wolf Ranch. At that time, I was grateful for the opportunity to steer clear of our hometown and her. Also, I’d hoped being here meant she couldn’t easily find me. Us. She walked away. She made her choice.”
“What does she want, do you think?” Joy asked.
My jaw clenched, and I tightened my hold on her. I wanted to rip off my clothes, shift, and run–track down Soraya and get her to talk. But I wasn’t leaving my girls alone. Not now. No fucking way. “Remy, of course. She’s here for Remy. The question is why?”
“Could she be back for you?” From the way Joy tensed as she asked the question, I realized I should have made that part clear from the start.
“We were never together. There was no love involved. We weren’t a couple.” I tried to say it as many ways as I could so she would understand there was no competition. “It was a one-night thing before I went back to the rodeo circuit. I didn’t even know she was pregnant until I came back to town six months later. She never told me. Hell, we didn’t exchange numbers. When I found out, I tried to do the right thing by renting a decent house and moving her in with me. I bought all the baby supplies, childproofed and everything. Then she bailed as soon as she could.” I cupped the side of Joy’s face. “We weren’t a couple. Never, honey. I’ve only known you for two days, and I feel more for you than I ever felt for that she–” I stopped myself from saying she-wolf.
“–devil.”
Joy raised her brows in laughter. “She-devil?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t want to call her a bitch in front of you.”
She laughed and some more of the rage Soraya’s unexpected visit brought on left me.
“I like your laugh.”
She quieted, but her wide smile lingered as she touched my lips. “I want to hear yours.”
The corners of my lips quirked. “It might break my face,” I said, repeating the taunts the guys at the ranch always threw my way. They repeatedly said I had “resting bitch face.”
She laughed again. “I’m willing to risk that.”
Damn. She pulled an actual smile from me. And it didn’t even hurt.
No, it felt good. Weird, but good.
She lowered her face and kissed my lips. I lifted her waist to adjust her legs to straddle my lap, facing me, and kissed her back.
“Joy, I do want to get to know you. I want to date you. Meet your family. And fuck you six ways until Sunday.”
She grinned and untied her halter top at the neck, so it fell down.
My wolf roared to life so fast at the sight of her perfect tits, I was afraid my eyes were glowing.
“How about we get started on that part tonight?” she asked in a husky voice.
I yanked her hips over mine, my dick already thick. “I’m your man.”
17
WES
“What do you think we’ll find today?” I asked Johnny and Boyd as I adjusted the blanket on the back of Sunshine.
Sunshine. It made me think of Joy. I still had her taste on my tongue from an early morning tryst before Remy woke.
We were in the stable at Wolf Ranch saddling up our horses. The morning chores had been done, and it was time to ride the west side of the property to check for storm damage. Sections of the creek washed out some fencing on the east side–and stranded a bunch of cows, so we expected something similar in the other direction. “Downed trees?”
“Hey, Johnny. You think Wes looks like he’s smiling?” Boyd asked, lifting his saddle from the rack.
I could feel Johnny eyeing me. “I think you’re right. Maybe finding his mate was the cure for his cantankerous nature.”