Cade's Loss: California Cowboys 1 Read online

  He stayed, and she stayed, and they talked about airports and whether Uber was a good thing or a bad thing. He found out she had a soft spot for animals of all varieties and loved to dance, and he told her about his secret fantasy of entering some qualifying series surf competitions even though he couldn’t surf for a living anymore.

  As it got dark, he could see that she was getting chilly. He didn’t have a jacket to lend her, so he took the last sip of beer and held out his hand. “You are staying here at the hotel, right?” he asked.

  “Yes.” She slipped her hand in his and answered without hesitation, indicating she’d grown much more comfortable with him.

  “You look cold. Let me walk you to your room? No secret motives, just want to make sure you get there safely.”

  She considered it, but only for a second. “Sure. That would be nice.”

  He decided that he didn’t want to let go of her hand as they made their way down the stairs of the deck and onto the walkway to the rooms, so he held on to it and was delighted when she didn’t pull away. Her bones were fine, thin, and light, as though they were hollow like a bird’s. But there was also a strength that came from her, something solid and grounded that gave her an earth mother quality he hadn’t picked up on when he’d first noticed her. He’d never been a huge fan of hippie girls, but this one he could definitely be into.

  “I’m straight ahead,” she said as they reached the main walkway through the compound. “Room one eleven.”

  Cade smiled but didn’t say anything else, and neither did she, both of them seemingly satisfied to walk along next to the softly landing waves, the scent of the ocean strong on the breeze that caused her to shiver every so often.

  Long before he was ready for it, they’d reached her room, and he stood awkwardly outside her door, staring down at her. “If this had been a date, I’d probably need to kiss you good night,” he said, his voice deep and rough as he looked at her golden eyes in the low light of the walkway.

  “If this had been a date, I might let you,” she responded, giving him a seductive smile.

  That was all the invitation Cade needed. He hadn’t been on a date in years, and he hadn’t even gotten laid in a while, but regardless of how rusty he was, he knew that this was one of those moments, a chance-in-a-lifetime kind of thing, a one-time shot at something amazing. Because this woman—damn she was all that and the cherry on top.

  He wrapped an arm around her waist and slowly pulled her to him, closing the last few precious inches that separated their bodies. Then, as if everything around them had ceased to exist, his entire focus lasered in on her lips. Those succulent peachy pillows that had beckoned to him for the last hour and a half like sirens from the rocks. He heard a small exhale come from her and smelled the sweet margarita mix on her breath, and then, mere centimeters from touching his mouth to hers, he whispered, “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Nina’s breath caught in her throat as Cade’s lips crushed against hers. Her head spun and her skin tingled as his tongue swept through her mouth, stroking every nook and cranny before retreating and then starting all over again. He groaned and yanked her closer, and she felt his possession sink into her, winding its way through her chest, her gut, and finally landing in her core where it made her hot and achy.

  Before she knew what she was doing, her hands had found their way into his silky sun-kissed hair, and her breasts rubbed against his muscular chest, needy and seeking.

  She moaned and tipped her hips into his, discovering that he was as hard as steel, and damn big too. His warm palms stroked up and down her arms, then explored, finding her ass and pulling her higher as he also pressed her back against the door to her room.

  Nina hadn’t been with anyone since her disaster of an engagement, but she’d kissed a few men, and not a one of them had felt like this. She’d always been a relationship kind of girl, had slept with only three men in her life, all of them long-term boyfriends, but in that moment, with Cade’s tongue lapping her up like she was cream and he was a two-hundred-pound Persian, she couldn’t think of one single reason why she shouldn’t invite him in and get naked as hell.

  “Jesus,” he whispered as he paused in his assault to give them both a much-needed breath. His hand wound into her hair and tugged her head so that she was forced to gaze up at him. My God, but he was beautiful. Those crystalline blue eyes, and naturally highlighted sandy hair. His skin was tan and he had the perfect amount of scruff on his strong chin and square jaw. He was one of those men that oozed vitality, his maleness floating around him like a powerful cloud. She’d seen the way the waitress and all the other women at the bar had looked at him. He was one hot catch, and she couldn’t believe that she’d managed to hook him without even trying. Because shit like that didn’t happen to Nina Cline.

  As his lips found more and more of her skin, she tried to take a breath and think, because Nina wasn’t the type to do things on a whim, and she was in Big Sur for work. You’ll be stuck on a ranch the whole time, her conscience whispered. You’ll never see him again. Still though, she didn’t do one-night stands; she did long term; she did engagements. And look where that got you, the inner voice lamented. She felt a twinge of that sting that she always did when she remembered how casually her former fiancé had thrown her away. Wouldn’t it be nice to feel wanted? that voice whispered. Yes. Yes, it would.

  “Cade,” she gasped. He ignored her and continued to work his lips down her neck, making a sultry detour to her left earlobe before moving on toward her bare shoulder. His fingers slipped under the tiny straps of her sundress, and before she knew it, one of her breasts was bared to the night air, and his hot, wet tongue was licking around her nipple with such seductive skill that her knees nearly gave out.

  “Oh!” she cried out, swallowing the moan that followed as he sucked her flesh into his mouth, sending shards of fire through her.

  “So fucking hot,” he breathed, blowing air over her throbbing breast as she clung to him, her head dizzy and her heart pounding.

  “Come inside,” she finally had the sense to say.

  His head popped up, his eyes hot and heavy with lust. “Don’t toy with me, gorgeous.” He gave her a soft smile. “I don’t think certain parts of me could take it.”

  She gently pulled the strap to her dress up, covering her breast even as she could see the protest forming on his lips.

  “Come inside,” she said again, her voice rough and sultry this time. “Just for a while. No secret motives.” She echoed his words from earlier and he grinned at her.

  “No secrets, I think my motives are pretty clear.”

  “Good.” She reached into her pocket and removed the plastic keycard. “Because I like your motives a lot. In fact—”—she swiped the key and pressed down on the lever, opening the door to the dark, cool room—“I think you can motivate me for as long as you’d like tonight.”

  Cade grinned, and her damn stomach erupted into a whole flock of fluttering creatures. “Oh, sweetheart,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her inside. “I’ve got motivation that can go on for hours. Let me show you all about it.”

  2

  Nina maneuvered the generic rental car up the long dirt road that wound through the grazing land and up to the top of the nearest hill. Once her car climbed over the edge, she found herself on a vast mesa, facing an enormous rambling ranch house, complete with wraparound porch and soft, pale curtains fluttering out the upstairs windows in the light breeze.

  She tried not to compare it to the property that she’d almost become the mistress of, but it was hard. Carver Farms was one of Washington State’s premier properties, producing a big percentage of the country’s apples and potatoes. The Jenkinses, on the other hand, were wealthy California ranchers, and Big Sur Ranch was a crown jewel of Northern California. Her lip curled as she thought of Liam Carver and his privileged, cheating ass. No, rich landowners were not her favorite kind of people, but at least the Jenkinses were try
ing to do the right thing by going organic. She’d have to give them some points for that.

  The land that made up Big Sur Ranch was truly spectacular, transitioning from flat grazing acreage to rolling hills, to the sharp cliffs and sandy beaches along the Pacific. Most of the agricultural lands were farther inland, but a few brave souls had grabbed acreage in Big Sur a handful of decades ago and made a go of it, building growing herds, homes, and businesses that were still here after all this time. Weathering the ocean storms and the inland droughts with equal aplomb.

  As she passed under the large carved sign that read Big Sur Ranch, she took note of the setup for the barn, holding pens, and water supplies. She was relatively pleased with what she saw, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t still have to be plenty of changes and improvements in order to gain organic certification.

  When she pulled into the gravel parking area to the side of the ranch house, a tall dark-haired man walked off the front porch and toward her. Something about him was familiar, but not in an obvious way. His hair was shorn close to his head, and he wore a T-shirt that clung nicely to his pecs and abs. Worn jeans were low-slung on narrow hips, and his boots weren’t fancy cowboy boots but solid, durable, square-toed work boots.

  “You must be Ms. Cline,” the guy said, a baseball cap in his hand as she exited the car.

  “Yes. Tyler Jenkins?”

  He reached her and shook her hand enthusiastically. “I’m Ty. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Thank you, and please call me Nina.”

  He smiled warmly at her, then asked, “Can I carry your bags for you?”

  Nina smiled as she used the remote to pop the trunk. “You might want to get some help with them,” she joked as the open trunk revealed ten different pairs of shoes, a shearling coat, four suitcases, and a large cardboard filing box.

  Tyler scratched his head, but before he could answer, a high-pitched voice rang out in the warm air, and suddenly, there was a small blue dervish hurling itself at Tyler, blonde hair sailing as it soared off the top step of the front porch. Tyler turned just in time to catch the wild child, stumbling back a step from the force of the flight.

  “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!” Nina now saw it was a little girl whose shrieks could probably be heard for a few miles around. “I told you I wanted to gweet the new lady.”

  Tyler blew a raspberry on the little girl’s cheek, then turned to face Nina, the kid on his hip. “That’s why I called for you before I walked out of the house, Pumpkin. It’s not my fault you’re as slow as old Bart after a rainstorm.” He looked at Nina. “Bart’s the mule.”

  Nina laughed and nodded.

  “Daddy,” scolded the tiny terror. “Aren’t you going to intwoduce me?”

  “Of course, bug. Nina, this is Katie bug, mistress of the ranch and special friend to Bart. Katie, this is Miss Nina, who’s going to be helping us learn how to make all the cows and chickens healthier.”

  “But we still gonna eat ’em, wight?” Katie asked, looking at Nina skeptically.

  Nina smiled, somewhat surprised that Tyler had a child when she’d been led to believe Big Sur Ranch was run by three bachelor brothers.

  “Do you want to eat them?” Nina asked, careful and cognizant of a child’s reaction to where meat comes from.

  Katie, however, seemed just a hairsbreadth shy of being bloodthirsty as she shouted, “Yes! We eat the steak and the corned beef, and the hamburgers, and…”

  “Okay, bug,” Tyler said, setting the blue-and-blonde bundle down on the dusty driveway. “We know you love your meat.” Tyler gave Nina an apologetic smile. “But I need to help Miss Nina get settled. Why don’t you go inside and see if Aunt Lynn can get us all some lemonade?”

  “Yes, Daddy. Lemons, lemons, lemonsade,” she cried, skipping back toward the house.

  Tyler looked weakly at Nina. “Sorry about that. She’s, uh, kind of a handful.”

  “No worries. She’s darling,” Nina answered, while secretly wondering if they just threw raw meat at the kid when it was dinnertime.

  “So, you’re going to be staying in the guesthouse, if that’s okay,” Ty continued, hauling out the first of her suitcases from the trunk. “I thought you’d be more comfortable there since it’s just my brothers and me in the main house. My Aunt Lynn is around quite a bit to help out with Katie, but she has her own place in town too.”

  “The guesthouse sounds great,” Nina answered, looking around at the various outbuildings scattered in a circular fashion around the main ranch house. “Your home is beautiful, by the way.”

  “Thank you,” Tyler answered. “My grandfather put up the first ranch house in the nineteen forties, but my parents leveled the thing when they designed this replacement. This one’s been here since before I was born. I think my older brother, Cade, may have lived in the original house for a few months when he was a baby, but the rest of us have only ever known this new place.”

  Nina’s heart skipped a beat when she heard the name Cade. But no, her Cade—who wasn’t actually her Cade at all—had been all surfer, definitely not a rancher kind of guy. Her mind wandered back to the way Cade’s hands had felt touching her bare skin, his warm calloused fingers stroking over her nipples and dipping inside her body.

  “It’s really warm today,” she said, struggling to douse the flames that the mere thought of her one-night stand had ignited.

  “Yeah, up here on the inland side, things are usually five degrees or so warmer. Did you just get to town this morning?”

  “No, I actually arrived yesterday and spent the night—”

  “At the Big Sur Inn,” a deep voice interrupted from behind her.

  Nina spun to find none other than Cade—her Cade—scowling at her from underneath a real, honest-to-God cowboy hat.

  Ty’s gaze darted between his brother and her. “You’ve met?” he asked, eyes narrowing.

  “She was at the Inn bar yesterday when I stopped by for a drink. Candy was talking to her, so she introduced us, although I never got past her first name—Nina was it?” His jaw was set and his eyes spoke volumes, mostly commanding that she play along with this little game, which she was more than happy to.

  She put out her hand. “Yes, you have a good memory. Nice to see you again.”

  He ignored her hand, opting to stand there and glower instead.

  “So, you didn’t know she was our new organics consultant?” Tyler asked, absentmindedly handing Cade two of the suitcases.

  “Nope. We, uh, never got to jobs and all that. And at the risk of sounding like I have no idea what’s going on at my own ranch, what the hell is an organics consultant?”

  The men were loaded up with suitcases and shoes, so Nina picked up the box of files and followed Ty in the direction of a small cabin set away from the barns just behind the house. Her heart was beating double-time as she freaked out over seeing what was supposed to be her one-night stand in the midst of her new assignment for work. It figured that the one time she let loose, it came back to bite her in the ass. Then she had the image of Cade’s teeth grazing her bum, and she flushed all over again.

  “I told you about this,” Ty said to his older brother. “I’ve hired Nina’s firm to develop a plan for taking the ranch to certified organic. All the beef, all the chicken, eggs, and milk too.”

  Cade grunted as they reached the guest cabin, and he shoved through the door after Ty. “I have no memory of that discussion at all.”

  “Well, it’s not my fault you have selective memory when it comes to making any improvements to the business.”

  The men set the suitcases down, and Cade reached out and jerked the box out of Nina’s arms before slamming it down on top of the dresser. Her mouth dropped open to protest, but he’d turned to his brother before she could get a word out.

  “That’s complete bullshit, and you know it.” Cade jabbed a finger toward Ty to punctuate the statement.

  Tyler’s hands swung out to his sides in a what the fuck gesture. “Really? You
’re really going to do this? You haven’t changed a thing on this place in six years, dude. Six. Damn. Years. The house is the same, the grounds are the same, the bookkeeping software is the same. Hell, if we didn’t need to sell them to survive, you’d probably have the same damn cattle here too.”

  Both men seemed to have forgotten Nina standing in the doorway, and she stood, gape mouthed, watching the two big, loud men and wondering if they were going to throw punches or merely shout the roof off the place.

  “Because if it’s not broke, you don’t fix it!” Cade bellowed before turning and seeing Nina standing there, her eyes wide. His face hardened, and he growled under his breath before muttering, “Excuse me.” She stepped out of his way quickly and he marched on by, looking right through her as though he hadn’t had the most intimate parts of him inside the most intimate parts of her the night before.

  Her head swiveled to look back toward Ty, who rubbed a hand over his short hair before returning the baseball cap to its place on his head.

  “And that was my brother Cade.”

  Yes, it was. But not the Cade she’d met the night before. No, that Cade was long gone, and Nina couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever really existed at all.

  Cade stormed into the barn, anger running through his veins like boiling water.

  “Goddammit!” he roared as he kicked a bale of hay. Hands on hips, he paced the aisle of the barn as the horses watched him with soft eyes, none of them seeming too concerned with his temper tantrum.

  The one time—the one fucking time—he did something out of character, something just for him, it blew up in his face. His perfect, sexy-as-hell one-night stand was now camped out in his guesthouse, with the express purpose of throwing his business into chaos.

  He didn’t care what Ty claimed, there was no way he would have signed off on hiring an organic consultant of all things. When the hell was his brother ever going to learn? The damn ranch had run just fine for seventy some odd years doing things this way; it would continue to run just fine for another seventy. Yes, things were a little slow right now. The industry was suffering under the weight of environmental concerns and alternatives to beef, but hell, Americans loved their burgers. That wasn’t going anywhere.