Rough (Wolf Ranch 1)

Because he was the alpha, and respect for the alpha was in our bones. And, my need to please my big brother, to make him proud of me, to make me worthy of being in the pack even though I’d single-handedly destroyed it, was still something I craved.

It wasn’t until he walked away that I remembered the wolf scent. I’d tell him about that later because right now, I had to clean up for my date. I had a different scent on my mind now: juicy, sweet peaches.

16

AUDREY

“Where are we going?” I asked for the third time. We were in Boyd’s truck, driving in the direction of his ranch. Work had gone by impossibly slow this morning because all I could think about was our date. I’d called Marina to catch her up on the latest although I’d left the details out about the wild time in the barn. That was a secret for me and Boyd. And anyone else at the Wolf Ranch who’d heard me scream as I came. Instead, I’d told her about the run-in with Jett Markle, the mechanical bull and how Boyd had followed me home. I’d also left out the phone sex. That was why she was more eager than ever for me to get my rocks off with Boyd, even if he wasn’t future husband material.

I still had my doubts, even after everything he’d said on the phone about love at first sight, but I was willing to explore this insane and apparently mutual attraction a little further. It seemed I was a glutton for punishment. And orgasms.

He flicked his gaze my way and grinned. “I’m taking you to one of Cooper Valley’s best kept secrets. One of nature’s most beautiful features that you won’t find in any guide book.”

“And we need the butt plug for that?”

When Boyd picked me up, he’d insisted I bring the party favors. Lube, condoms, vibrating butt plug. When I’d stared at him by the front door, he’d stormed past, into my bedroom and found my bedside drawer that had them. I was eager and apprehensive to think about what we’d do with them. I knew the plug would go in my butt—I didn’t think Boyd was game for the other way around—and I vividly remembered his intentions. That made me squirm on his leather seat.

The corner of his mouth tipped up as if he’d caught me. “Well, I brought some blankets in case we wanted to pick up where we left off last night.” He tossed one of those Boyd Wolf signature winks my way, and my panties got damp. Blankets meant not in a bed. He was planning on plugging my ass and fucking me outside?

Yes, I did want to pick up where we left off last night. In fact, I’d struggled to think of anything else since.

That wasn’t true. I’d thought a lot about the phone sex, but I’d also thought about earlier at the bar. How quickly Boyd went with it when I suddenly one-eightied on him and pretended he was my boyfriend. The sweet way he got me on that mechanical bull. How he’d been concerned about me getting enough sleep before I had to work. How he’d followed me home.

I’d underestimated Boyd. Grossly. And I may have underestimated his sexual fantasies. I wasn’t a virgin, but could I keep up with a guy like Boyd? My pussy told me it wanted to try.

A pang of guilt settled in my chest. Here I’d thought him shallow, a quick lay, when in fact, I’d been pigeon-holing him. He was the real deal. A protective, thoughtful guy in a crazy-hot cowboy package. Who wanted to play with me using a butt plug. As Marina had said, go for it.

I couldn’t freaking wait.

“Did you always want to be a doctor?” he asked, completely changing the subject. He glanced my way, then flicked on his blinker and turned down a side road. We’d cut through the canyon and were about a mile from Wolf Ranch. The turn meant we weren’t heading there, though.

“Pretty much. My mom was… well, sickly.”

“Bad heart or something?”

In a way, it was true. “That’s what they called it back then. Sickly. In medical terms, she was clinically depressed. She’d sleep a lot although she worked two jobs, so she was tired all the time. She didn’t have hobbies or socialize. Sometimes she’d forget to eat, and I’d have to find food and cook for us both.”

I saw his fingers tighten on the steering wheel.

“Didn’t your dad help?”

I bit my lip, stared out the side window. “I never knew my dad. At least not when I was a kid. My mom got pregnant when she was eighteen and told me she never knew his name.”

It made no sense now. I was thirty, her age when I’d been twelve. I remember being twelve, and her answer about my father had confused me. I’d known the basics about sex at the time and could never understand how she didn’t know who my dad was.