Locke

LOCKE

One look at the gorgeous woman in hospital scrubs and I’d been done. I’d found my woman. We’d spoken casually as we picked up the strewn boxes, but that was it. I’d had to go help Mrs. Crisp reach maple syrup on the top shelf and when I turned back, she was gone. The next time I saw her it was a week later, after a quick trip to Texas with Trig. To my fucking surprise–and nightmare–Richard had brought her to the house and had claimed her as his girlfriend. Then, only a few weeks later, his fiancée.

All I thought about as I worked was her. Her smile. Her luscious body. How sweet she was every time I saw her up at the house with Richard. Why the hell was someone like her with my brother?

I didn’t understand it and I had to bury myself in ranch work to keep from losing my shit. The closer to the big day, the harder it was to handle, because Christina was gonna be completely and totally off limits in a week.

Richard was gonna get the house, the ranch, and my dream gi–

My headlights picked up someone in the drive and I slammed on the brakes. The rear end fishtailed and my head whipped forward at the sudden stop.

As if I’d conjured her up or God delivered her because I’d been praying hard enough, there stood Christina in the middle of the drive wearing some luscious floral dress that showed off every inch of her gorgeous body.

Putting the truck in Park, I pushed the door open and my long legs ate up the distance to get to her.

“Christina, what the hell are you doing out here in the dark? You lost? Where’s Richard?” I glanced around, but the night was inky black and nothing was visible beyond my headlights. A coyote yipped in the distance.

She pushed her thick black hair back as she tipped her head up to look at me. Fuck, she was always prettier than my imaginings. And I imagined a lot. Especially in bed at night when I was alone and my hand was wrapped around my dick. Full lips. High, round cheeks. Eyes almost unfathomably dark. And they were focused on me.

“Locke,” she said, her voice breathy and fuck if I didn’t want her saying it over and over again for the rest of my life.

“Where’s Richard?” I asked again, looking around as if he might pop out of the dark.

She huffed a laugh, then glanced away. “In his bed fucking some skinny blonde.”

Her words had my eyes widening, then quickly narrowing.

What the hell?

The fucker.

“You caught him sleeping with another woman?” I asked, stunned, but probably not all that surprised. More that he’d cheat on Christina. Why would any guy want to do that to her? She was perfection and if I got her in my bed, I’d sure as fuck never let her out.

She looked back at me and rolled her eyes. “They’re definitely not sleeping.”

She had me there. Wording aside, I was worried about her. She’d just seen her fiancé fucking someone else, whoever the hell she was, and was now roaming the ranch in the middle of the night. “What are you doin’ out here? You can’t be thinking you’d walk home. Town’s a few miles away.”

No way should she be out at night all alone, let alone walking all the way back to town. I knew she lived in the house she grew up in with her grandmother after her mother ran off with some man from town. The miserable woman came back a few years later, then ultimately fucking it all up for good when she shacked up with the mayor two years ago, busted up that marriage and helped him embezzle city funds for a vacation. Everyone in town knew all about that.

She shrugged and the motion lifted her lush breasts. With the harsh glare of headlights, I couldn’t miss the way her nipples were pebbled beneath her dress. Shit, she wasn’t wearing a coat.

“My friends dropped me off and… I couldn’t stay in the house after I found them together. I ran out and–”

She didn’t have to say more. Not only had Richard cheated on her, but he’d made her go off in the dark on her own. I wrapped my arm around her and–fuck, she felt soft–and led her to the passenger side of my truck. “Come on. Let’s get you inside where it’s warm.”

She shook her head, but didn’t mind being herded toward the warm interior. “I don’t want to see either of them right now.”

I wanted to go up to the big house and beat the shit out of my brother and toss the woman off the front porch, but I wouldn’t do that. I didn’t care about them. I cared about Christina and she needed me right now.

“You don’t need to see them ever again,” I said, meaning it. If she wanted Richard dead, I’d kill him myself for her. She wanted the woman forced out of town? Done.

Now, everything had changed. I’d held back when I learned she was dating my brother. It’d been hell to watch them together, but since he seemed to have made her happy–she’d accepted his proposal after all–I’d kept my distance. Richard had fucked up his shot with her. It was finally time for me to shoot mine.