Fierce (Wolf Ranch 5)

That situation hadn’t helped my love life, either. Yet with my parents retired and happily playing shuffleboard in Florida, Pops was my only family around.

“Charlie?” My grandfather croaked into the phone.

“Hi, yes, it’s me.”

He cleared his throat. “Well… where are you? I’ve been waiting on you for the ice cream.”

I swallowed back my anguish over his deteriorating mental state. “I’m in Montana, remember? For work. I’m breeding Seraphina. Remember that pretty horse I took you to see last week?”

“That’s right. How are things going up there?”

I glanced to Levi. “Good. Things are going good. Did Mrs. Vasquez stop by for dinner?”

“She did. Meatloaf. Mashed potatoes and gravy. I know how much you dislike gravy.”

His forgetfulness was a tricky thing. Inconsistent. “That’s right. I hate gravy.”

“Well, I’m sure you’re busy with your work. I’ve got a good book, and I want to know how it ends.”

He sounded better now, just that quick moment of confusion over ice cream. “All right, I’ll call you tomorrow. Love you, Pops.”

“Right back at you, sweetpea.”

I hung up and tucked the phone back in my pocket.

“She all set for the night?” Levi asked, tipping his head toward Seraphina, patting her flank then facing me.

I nodded and collected my things. Levi grabbed the stool, and we cleared out of her stall. He led me to the main doors, and he left the stool there then closed them behind us.

“You’re close with your grandfather, I take it.”

We walked side by side to the bunkhouse. It wasn’t dark yet, but the sun had slipped behind the mountains. Crickets chirped, and the wind blew through the grass. It was lovely. Peaceful. Or it may have been me relaxed from a man-induced orgasm.

Having Levi beside me… the guy who’d had his hands on me… in me? I liked being with him. Beside him. I liked him.

Keely was right. I should have fun. I should have Levi. Why not?

He looked at me, and I realized he was waiting for an answer to his question.

“Oh um, yes. I live with him now. I noticed he was forgetting stuff since my grandma died. Little things. He’d ask me the same question five minutes apart. He’s eighty, and I worried about him being alone all the time.”

“He’s all right with you away?”

“The neighbor is keeping an eye on him. It’s getting worse, I won’t deny it. Soon I’ll have to make decisions about his care.” Tears threatened, and I blinked them away. “Sorry, grandparents are special, you know?”

He stopped just outside the bunkhouse door. He sighed, took off his hat and looked down at the ground. “I moved in with my grandparents when I was fourteen after my parents died. They hated my dad for taking my mom away from them.” His voice was flat, and it was clear this was a sore subject for him.

I set my hand on his arm.

He offered me a quick glance. “It’s not bad like it sounds. My parents loved each other. Desperately. But that didn’t matter to my grandparents. They blamed my father for her death. And I looked like him.”

“They took their grief out on you,” I said, my voice soft.

He stared out at the prairie, seeing the past, not the tall grass. “My grandparents weren’t kind people. I’ll just leave it at that. I left the minute I turned eighteen. Never went back.”

I could tell there was much he wasn’t saying. Four years of hurt and… worse.

“What’s this about gravy?” he asked, clearly switching topics. I went with it.

“Pops likes gravy. I detest anything drowning my food.”

“I like gravy,” he said, his smile returning. He opened the door for me.

“I’m sure you do. A big cowboy like you is always hungry.”

He hooked my hip and pulled me into him. I had to tilt my head back to meet his eyes.

“I’m hungry now,” he said, his voice going deep. “I had a taste of you on my fingers, and I want more.”

“Oh,” I said.

He took my bag from me, carefully set it beside the door.

“I want to get you naked. Get you in my bed. Get between those thighs and eat you out. You’ll come, doll. Again and again until I get my fill. Okay with you?”

He waited. I processed and let my body melt under the heat of his stare. Turn soft and pliant like pulled taffy.

Was that okay with me? Hell yes, it was.

“Race you to the stairs.” I took off at a sprint. I heard his heavy footfalls behind me, and I squealed with laughter. Yeah, maybe I could have some fun with a sexy cowboy. Especially if he wanted to eat me out.

10

LEVI

Why the fuck had I been so butthurt about having a human under my roof? Now I was in seventh heaven.

Charlie couldn't know it, but chase was a game all wolves loved. Even for me, a shifter who’d never shifted. She bolted across the main room, and my wolf howled. I grinned and took off after her, easily catching up and tossing her into my arms with my superior strength.