“Stop.” I sounded gruff like I was dressing down a team member, not protecting a friend’s sister. Even if it was from only a storm.
I would’ve dialed it back, but that would have been a mistake, too. I couldn’t encourage any feelings on her part—not that she even remotely still harbored the same ones she’d had at eighteen. She thought I was an asshole, and that would keep her away.
Because if I found her in my bed again, I wasn’t sure if I’d turn her away. I’d take her. Intimately. Aggressively.
I wasn’t a gentle lover.
“You’re not going anywhere but into the house where you can warm up and dry your clothes.”
“Oh really?” she fumed. “You have a lot of nerve, Ford. You haven’t said ten words to me or my parents since Buck’s death, and now you’re acting like we’re all still buddy-buddy? You didn’t want me all those years ago, and you think I’m back for what… more? More humiliation and embarrassment? I don’t think so.” She yanked her arm out of my grasp and tried to pass me again.
I could’ve stopped her. Easily. Could’ve wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her from the door, or tossed her over my shoulder and carried her to the house. Hell, I could’ve even apologized, but the list was so long, I didn’t know where to even start.
She could stay here and wait out the storm, but there was no way I was letting her do that. There was a much easier way to get her to do what I wanted, and it had me smirking. I might fight against having Indi beneath me, but she sure as hell was going to do what I said.
I grabbed her wet clothes and backpack from the ground then beat her to the door. “See you in the house,” I tossed out before walking out into the storm, letting the rain cool my need for the one woman I could never have.
“Ford!” she yelled. “You fucking asshole. I’m going to—”
The pounding rain cut off the rest of her words as I made my way across the field to the house. I was smiling for the first time in months.
Chapter
Three
INDIGO
* * *
Ford took my pants. He took my fucking pants!
I stared out the open door and into the rain.
“That asshole,” I swore.
I technically could have stayed in the greenhouse until the weather let up then hiked back to my truck bare-legged and panty-assed, but I wasn’t dumb. Ford knew that. The fucker.
I had no choice but to tuck my feet into my soggy hiking boots—which he’d so generously left—and trudged through the rain to the house. In just my t-shirt. Ford’s property was huge, and it took a few minutes to cut across it. I took the time to mutter and swear like I’d been the one in the Navy. By the time I stomped through the back screen door, I was fuming and soaked.
“Listen, you asshole, I—”
A man held up his hands at my verbal attack, but it wasn’t Ford.
I stopped short and shut my mouth.
Oh God. Another guy saw me in my panties today. It kept getting worse.
He was built like a lumberjack and was hot as hell. Jesus, what was in the water over here? I pegged him at six-four and well over two hundred pounds. All muscle. The guy had zero body fat, and I could tell because his t-shirt was practically painted on his sculpted torso. Strangely, he had a lollipop tucked in the pocket of his cheek.
I wasn’t the only one doing a body scan. His blue eyes roved over every inch of me. Every wet, bare or drenched inch of me.
“I’m not the asshole, sweetheart.” His voice was deep and rough. “Trust me, I have more pleasurable ways of getting a woman wet.” He winked.
Holy shit, who was this guy?
I glanced away from that megawatt smile when heavy footfall came down the back stairwell. The one I’d once used to sneak up into Ford’s bedroom that fateful night when he and my brother had been on leave. There’d been a party. I’d been invited, and I’d naively thought that meant he was interested.
His grandparents had been out of town, I guessed, since they hadn’t been home when I’d snuck in. I didn’t remember. All that stuck was the unpleasant shock on Ford’s face when he’d found me in his bed and the sound of his curse echoing in my ears before he told me to cover myself and get out.
Ugh.
Ford paused on the last step in only a pair of jeans, top button undone. His shirt was missing and a towel was draped over his broad, bare shoulders.
A dog came down the steps behind him and trotted over to me, tail wagging. He was square and brown and looked up at me with eyes that said he was now my new best friend.