Chapter 2

Two

Boone

W alking out of the house and leaving Harper staring at my retreating back hours ago was the hardest damn thing I've had to do in a long time. Seeing her big, beautiful blue eyes filled with so much damn... hell, I don't know what I saw but it has my insides tied around themselves. Could have been lust? I sure as hell am not going to call it love. Infatuation maybe. Either way, the fire in her eyes put an equal burn in my veins.

Not dipping my head and claiming her sweet, innocent lips this morning, on her birthday no less, fucking tore my heart out. My eyes follow her across our back yard to where she joins a group of friends. I groan. The frilly white number she's wearing doesn't allow for a bra. Trust me when I say I can spot her pretty hard nipples from all the way over here despite anything she might be using to cover them.

The slight heaviness to them make them sway and have my dick leaking in my pants.

A gentle gust of wind kicks up the edges of her dress and my dick instantly wants to rip through my jeans. Thank God it's getting dark.

I take it back. Walking away this morning instead of cave-maning the girl over my shoulder and running to the back cabin with my virgin prize wasn't the hardest thing I've done. Watching horny college-bound boys prance around my girl is.

And she is not exactly a girl anymore. Every sensual curve on her body screams the truth. She is a full-fledged woman with juicy tits that will fit perfectly in my mouth. Curves in places that make a grown man hard and weak at the knees all at once.

If I were lesser of a man, that is. No fucking way I'm going to fuck my brother's goddaughter.

I white-knuckle the beer I've been nursing for the past hour.

Friends from school circle her on all sides and block my view so I make my way to the opposite side of our back yard for a better view. Friends we've grown up with try to catch my eye in passing. I raise my bottle in salute and keep moving. Hunter and Austin must have invited half the damn town to this shindig.

I finally find another opening on the opposite side of the dance floor. Tiny tables for two, three max, rim the floor and I grab the nearest, easing my heavy weight into the creaky folding metal of a chair. Dusk is just setting in and strands of lights hanging around the place play in her blonde hair, making her look like the angel she is. Dressed in a short white number that shows way too much of those creamy thighs with impossibly thin straps that keep falling off her shoulders, she even looks that part. A tempting, dick-teasing angel I can't take my eyes off.

When she came to live with us after her parents stabbed us and half the town in the back, we all vowed that nothing would tarnish this girl's life from that day forward. Not a person in this world would be able to hurt her. We've kept that promise. Loved her and protected her. Only now my dick thinks the sweet little thing that's all grown up is no longer off-limits.

She is. Forbidden as the Texan summer days are long. Gorgeous, tempting as fucking sin and the sweetest person on this planet. I shake my head. What am I thinking?

About taking her virgin pussy, is what. Giving her an orgasm so wild she'll only want my dick and then watching her belly grow with my child.

What remains of my erection dies at what I see when I draw my gaze from the swaying crowd back to Harper. She has her head thrown back, laughing at something some twig of a boy whispers in her ear. A solid right hook of jealousy slams into my gut at seeing someone else put that smile on her face.

I take a deep breath, trying to control my anger when a boy a couple of years older than Harper wraps an arm around her shoulder from her other side.

Like fuck. I set my empty beer bottle to the side. A twangy two-steppin' number plays over the Bluetooth speakers and draws a huge crowd to the floor. Including Harper and the boy.

"Hey, Boone, baby. I've been lookin' for ya."

I wince at the heated tone of that voice.

Ah fuck.

Sweet Southern notes hit my ears, and once upon a time they would have had my dick hard and me looking for the nearest room in the Urban mansion to take our redheaded neighbor for a quickie-turn-all-nighter while everyone else danced the night through. With fifteen rooms to pick from, finding a spot was never the problem.

"Sophia, glad you could make it out." I tip my hat and notice the polished nail running down my arm. Sleek black jeans cover a curvy beautiful body that used to tick every box on my score sheet for a woman, but my dick isn't interested. In her or anyone. Crass as that sounds, it's the truth.

The reason for that is currently being pawed by inexperienced boys and looking on raises my blood pressure with every jolt of my heart. I catch her sky-blue eyes through the moving crowd.

An unwelcome weight settles over my lap, and I'm taken by surprise when Sophia wraps her arms around my neck, her ass in my lap. I pull my gaze off Harper and pin them to the woman trying to do her best impersonation of an octopus. Those bedroom eyes she's flashing at me say she's in for the kind of night we used to share a couple of years back.

I scrub a hand down my face and tuck my hat a little lower. Deep shadows hide the irritation pulling at my expression from the woman I thought I'd one day put a ring on. But something changed. She'd cheated on me. One morning while out for an early ride, I thought I'd stop by my girl's place and surprise her with breakfast in bed. Seeing the sheriff's car parked outside maybe my insides freeze up. Turns out from the scream and grunts coming from the kitchen window I wasn't the only one thinking about a morning fuck over Sunday breakfast.

I didn't say anything, just walked away and never looked back. Maybe that means my heart wasn't really in it to begin with. I don't know. I'm not usually one to analyze shit like that. Who has the time? Harper is always saying I'm out of touch with my feminine side whatever the hell that means.

Apparently, Sophia still hasn't gotten the memo that we're through. Have been for over a year now. Nearly two. Some people are just that hardheaded.

A bright red smile beams up at me. "You wanna get out there and have a little fun? Show these youngsters some real swanky moves? Get back to our roots a little, sugah?"

I don't answer. Seeing Sophia doesn't do a thing but irritate the shit out of me, and it takes a goliath amount of restraint to keep my mouth shut in order to not ruin Harper's special day. So I stay quiet.

"You've been dodgy as fuck for forever, hun." The red-tipped finger pushes my jaw her way until our eyes lock. My days as an Army Ranger beat out my impulse to act first and think later and that's a good thing. Luckily all the habits and life changes I went through under the care of Uncle Sam stuck with me, or Sophia might find herself dumped on her ass and walked over in front of half of the town.

I brush her hand away. "Nah, not dodgy, just busy." I leave it at that and slowly push to my feet, forcing her to slip from my lap. A hand to her shoulder keeps her from falling to her ass. See, I'm not a total ass.

"What the fuck, Boone?" she blurts, and I sidle a look her way that cuts grown-ass men down a few pegs.

She draws back, eyes wide.

"Don't start, Sophia. Find someone else to do a two-step across the floor with. I'm sure that won't be a problem. Maybe ask the sheriff. But it won't be with me, for damn sure."

"Why the hell not, Boone? Look at me!"

A hand on my shoulder has me turning. Looking in her eyes, I see confusion and hurt, and the acidic words on the tip of my tongue dry up. "I'm not interested anymore, Sophia. In case the last eighteen plus months have not clued you in, we're over. Now kindly find someone else to bother."

Austin and Hunter catch my eye overtop her head and they give a quick chin nod, knowing what I need.

The high-energy song fades into a slow dance, and my eyes immediately zero in on the crowd to find Harper. Soft, sweet, innocent and so full of life it radiates from her like fucking light. I should have bugged out and stayed away, but I can't any more than I can drain the blood from my veins. I've already been keeping as much space between us as possible while working the ranch. It's almost foaling season and I should be on the back portion of our acres taking care of the mares about to drop their colts. Instead, I'm heading across a dance floor, one thought in my head.

I push through the crowd, my sights set on the opposite side of the floor. Sophia nothing but a bad memory behind me.

Most everyone had the cake, all but one of the birthday presents were opened—I haven't given her mine yet. By now all the adults have a few drinks in them and the way they are grinding it out shows we might be a small hick town in the middle of Texas, but the majority of us know how to work a song.

I feel myself grow irrationally pissed at the sight I find when I close in and the crowd parts to reveal Harper. Her toes are all but being crushed by a boy three times her size trying to hold her too close, his hands doing an awkward slide to her ass despite the girl fending off the advancements.

He's a damn big boy, too and I'm about to teach him what his momma should have years ago. And I won't feel bad when I pummel my fist into his face. Normally, I'd let it pass, but the tight smile on Harper's face says she's uncomfortable and what kind of man would I be leaving a lady in distress?

I collar a hand around the boy's thick neck. "Before you dance with a lady, you should learn how to first. And you should know a smile from a lady isn't an open door to paw her like a piece of meat, dumbass."

I tighten my hold when big eyes meet mine. Only I have years of experience on how to make mine look a whole lot meaner.

I rest a light touch on Harper's back, and she immediately turns those baby blues on me. Relief filling her gaze. I let the boy go.

"Hey, asshole, she's mine. Back the fuck off or else."

Someone should step in and stop me because I'm about to land my fist in the little shit's face. I move to do just that, but a light touch to my balled fist stops me.

"Boone, please."

"You're lucky, boy."

Instead, I tip my hat back and pull Harper into my arms. "Unless you're man enough to back up that kind of language, I suggest you fuck off little boy. You've hogged the birthday girl from her uncle long enough and unless you put a ring on her finger this woman doesn't belong to you. Now go fuck a cactus."

Harper's back stiffens at the punishing tone I use on her friend. He turns and leaves us alone on the floor. It's wrong of me to think of her as mine, but until someone worthy of her love comes along, she's mine to protect, and I take my responsibility seriously.

Her pretty face turns sour with a frown and worry lines pull at the smooth skin of her forehead.

Shit.

Her head is tilted back and my cock thinks it's a good time to harden at such a pretty pout.

"Was that necessary, Boone?"

I let out a breath. "It was if you're me." I've been told I'm a little too direct. I mean, who the hell has time to beat around the bush with pansy-ass ego strokes and niceties?

"Sometimes, Boone, I think you need a lesson in manners."

"That's what Momma was always sayin', sweetheart, but for now how about that birthday dance?" I ask to see what she says, hoping she doesn't stomp on my boot and walk off.

But I know Harper and she likes the truth as much as I do.

I hold her at arm's length for just a minute. Jesus H. Christ. I take an eye full unapologetically and I'm once again floored by just how beautiful she is. intoxicating and forbidden fruit. Damn near jailbait. My cock throbs, and I smell the hint of her perfume. Something slightly sweet with a hint of her favorite flower—jasmine.

I hold out my hand and she glides her smaller hand into mine. One song drifts into another and I wind my arm around her, resting my other in the slight dip of her back. So damn soft and delicate, though I know she's as strong as any man walking the Earth. Maybe not muscle wise but her unwavering willpower is a thing to marvel over.

She tilts her head back. "You know I've never called you uncle."

I feel myself smile a little. "Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that the boy's hands were getting too close to your ass."

I look down at her, and for a split second my walls slip. Those pretty lips are parted and her eyes have so much love in them I'm about to do the one thing that would ruin us both—kiss her.

I tear my gaze away, focus on anything but the woman in my arms and force my dick to chill.

We get a couple of twirls and dips in before I bring us to a stop on the edge of the floor.

"Come on. Got somethin' to show you."

Before the song finishes its last guitar strum, I lead us off the dance floor and through the vast back yard to a barn off the side of the house a good ways off. We weave through the party-goers and stop only briefly for a few birthday hugs here and there. Austin and Hunter step in stride alongside us, but her hand is still in mine. I can't bring myself to care if they see.

"Where are we going?"

I'm kicking myself in the ass for waiting so late in the day to give the girl her present. The lighting in the barn sucks, but it's better than using a flashlight, I guess.

"Now, Harper, girl, you don't want to ruin the surprise, do you?" Hunter pulls on the door and flicks the overhead on. The smell of hay and horses greet us, but it doesn't bother my Southern belle. I cup a hand over Harper's eyes and my heart beats erratically at the tiny flicker of a moan she makes when her body leans into me. Her hands settle over mine.

Austin and Hunter have already disappeared and are in place by the time I've guided our girl into the barn. Her present is in the middle of the expansive barn. Semi-empty stalls line both sides of the barn, ready to receive this year's boarding horses in a couple of weeks.

"Oh, come on, the suspense is killing me!" She bounces on the balls of her feet.

This is going to be good. I kind of want to drag it out a bit longer. But, maybe that's only because I like the feel of her ass rubbing against my dick the longer she bounces in place. "Ready, baby girl?"

"Uh, yeah!"

The humor in her voice makes me chuckle.

"Ok, guys, have at it." I drop my hands from her eyes and rest them on her shoulders.

Several seconds pass and I can't tell if she loves it or not. But then, baby blues meet mine the second she twirls on the heels of her boots. "Oh my God!"

I hold my breath. She's beautiful and doesn't even have to try. She stands out in a crowd of a million people.

I don't have more than a split second before I have my hands full of all of Harper. Her excitement sends my hat tumbling to the ground and me stumbling a bit before I catch my footing.

"Whoa there, baby girl. You're gonna knock us both into the hay pile." I hold her tight and yeah, I'm liking how good she feels and if I'm to be perfectly honest, I'd give her a brand new truck every day of the year if this was the reward.

I look down at her and try not to laugh at the flushed surprise coloring her face such a pretty pink. I'm so fucking screwed. "Does this mean you like it?'' I ask close to her ear. I try not to breathe too deeply, but it's a losing battle. I inhale and take a hit of her perfume one more time.

"Like it? I can't believe it!" She bubbles up and my dick turns rock hard the second I feel her puckered nipples tease my chest. Nothing I can do to stop it. My body goes from zero to one hundred the second my hands touch her or any other part of me, for that matter.

She looks up at me and for a moment it's just the two of us in the barn, everything and everyone nothing but background noise.

"Thank you," she whispers sweetly.

"Happy birthday, baby girl, It's all yours. Now go on, take a good look at your new truck."

Smiling, she nods her head. "Okay."

To my surprise, she leans in one last time and presses a tender kiss to my cheek, her breath a caress against my face before she walks to a smiling Hunter and Austin to give them a quick hug.

"Go on, check it out:" Hands on her shoulders, Austin and Hunter walk her around and explain everything to her like she's never seen a four-wheel-drive truck before. The giddy look on their goofy faces says they're enjoying this as much as she is.

I swallow hard. This problem I have is going to be a clusterfuck of epic proportions. I need to get out of here. Go back to the cabin. Get my rocks off in the shower and move on.

Harper bends and flashes me a hint of her silky white panties. The thin strip between her legs doing nothing to hit the pouty lips of her pussy from my view.

Fuck me, I'm gone. What does that make me? A monster? All I can think about right now is what else can I give her to make her jump in my arms like that again. Feel those soft curves melt against me one more time.

I retrieve my hat and force my cock to chill yet again. After tonight I'll need five cold showers before I'll be able to sleep a wink.

I lean against the hood as she takes in the pretty red sparkle of the paint job beneath the overhead lights. "Whaddaya think? Big enough to haul everything off to college come fall?"

She blinks up at me and tugs a portion of her bottom lip between her teeth. That one little move has me wanting to know what her lips would be like wrapped around my cock.

But it also brings another thought around. Harper is hiding something. The first time she did that was when she got her first period and didn't know what to say to any of us so she walked three miles to our vet thinking something was wrong. The second was when she took the tractor out for a little joy ride in the back hayfield and tipped it over in a ditch. I lean a little more into the truck and prop the heel of my boot on the tire. This ought to be good.

"Harper?" Hunter probes. "What's the matter?"

She looks at each of us. "Umm...I've been thinking. Maybe…uhu…I don't know if I am going off to college. Not just yet anyway." She goes back to nibbling her lips.

"In fact, I want to stay on as a ranch hand. Work with y'all."

"The hell. No. You're not getting stuck on this ranch," I cut in, crossing my arms. "College is non-negotiable."

Hunter sighs heavily beside me. His arms are crossed and his gaze shoots daggers into me. "What asshole here is trying to say is, let's talk about it. You know you are always welcome here. It wouldn't be the same without you."

"That's beside the point. Our girl needs college. You're better than hay bales and horseshoes, long hours in the sun and dirt."

"Really? It seems to be good enough for the three of you."

She takes a stubborn stance, mirroring Hunter's crossed arms. Only she looks fucking kissable in the kind of way that you know she doesn't even realize just how much of a dick tease she really is to a man.

When I return her unblinking stare, she breaks first. She takes my hand and the frustration building up into a long talk deflates. "Thank you for the birthday gift. I love it." She turns to my brothers. "Thank you all. I can't thank you enough for this and everything you've done for me. Maybe Hunter is right. Let's talk about all this later."

I chuckle darkly. Damn, she knows how to work us like an expert negotiator. No wonder she got what she wants.

Tears start to rim those pretty eyes.

"Hey, none of that." Hunter has his arms around her. Thank God it's him right now and not me. I'd either throw her in the back of the truck and fuck her until we both forgot about her leaving the ranch this fall or make sure she has a reason to stay. Like putting a baby in her womb. Neither of us needed that. A town this small? Fuck me. The scandal would kill us. We depend on the people of this state trusting our impeccable reputation of being a solid family who is trustworthy. Not a pervert wanting to fuck a barely legal woman in the back of pickups.

I hold my arm out, and she pushes all of herself against me. "Glad you like it, sweetheart. It'll take care of you wherever you're going. Let's talk about this later. For now, let's get back to the party."

"Deal."

Somehow, I let her leave my side and go back to her friends who are all eager to check out her new present. I notice a backward glance and a tiny wave before I put a door between us.

Hunter lets the door slam behind him. "What the holy fuck, man?"

No surprise Austin and Hunter are hot on my ass as I pop the top on a beer. The guests are all outside and it's just the three of us in the kitchen.

I pass each of them a fresh bottle. Maybe it will cool their jets long enough for me to make my swift exit. I sigh when the fire in their eyes burns a hole through the back of my head. I turn on my heel. "What?"

"What the fuck was that about?" Hunter again. A table is between us and it looks like he wants to jump to land a solid right hook in the jaw.

I shrug. "What do you mean?"

"Are you trying to scare her off? You might as well pack her fucking bags for her and tell her to get out. Bad enough half the town shunned her for years after her parents went away. She's just now coming out of her shell."

"Don't think I haven't noticed." I arch a brow. "And scare her off? What the fuck are you spouting off about, Austin?"

Austin shoves a hand into the pocket of his jeans as though his other option is to bury into the other side of my face. He could try.

Hunter keeps pushing. "Dude, you gave her a truck and told her everything she owns will fit in the back and told her wherever she goes she'll be fine. Do you want to tape an eviction notice to her bedroom door next?"

Confusion pinches my face and when I don't offer up an answer, Hunter growls and tosses his hat on the table. "Play that back in your head from a woman's point of view, man. She's probably out there wondering how long it is before she's kicked out."

"Maybe that's for the best?"

"HA! For who? Who, Boone? You?"

Pointing my beer at Austin, I say, "Ain't you got anything to say? You're damn quiet for being the loudest of us all."

"Hunter seems to be saying what we're both thinkin' for once."

"Well, she's your goddaughter. Don't you have an opinion of your own?"

"Nope," he says flatly. The darkness of the Urban eyes like empty pits of hell staring back at me. "We've all taken a hand in raising her. Seeing her leave will hurt us all. Even the rock that you've become."

I lean back against the counter, crossing my arms and hooking one booted foot over the other.

"You don't know what you're talking about. We all knew she had to grow up sometime. Move on. Now is a good time for that as any. She's not our kid." I glanced out the window to find Harper talking with a group of friends, and the anger is back, fresh and ready to boil over. Anger at fate putting me in this world in front of a woman a decade and a half my junior and torturing me day in and day out with what I can't have.

"How long are you gonna fight it, man?"

I turn a razor-sharp eye on my Austin. "Fuck you."

Hunter grunts and we both turn to him. "You've done it now, Austin. Why the hell can't you keep your mouth shut, man? He's gonna run and now we'll all have to live with him forever being an asshole. No way big bad Boone will fess up to wanting Harper."

"What?" I grind out between clenched teeth, unhooking my feet.

"We've all seen you pussyfooting around her like she's venomous, dude. Plain stupid if you ask me. It's not like you can't, but somewhere in that stubborn head of yours you've put a huge red X over her and now you're this brooding asshole who stomps everywhere you go."

"It's quite annoying if you ask me," Austin chimes in, clinking beer bottles with Hunter like this is an intervention or some shit.

"Well, no one is asking you so back the fuck off, Austin." I grab my hat and head for the door.

"I'm going up to the cabin for a few weeks. Fix up the place after the last storm rolled through. I'll have my phone—try not to call unless one of you is bleeding."

I don't bother to look back. I already know the disdain on my brothers' faces.

The last thing Harper needs in her life is a sick fuck like me. It wasn't right to pine after a fucking barely legal member of the family. Not by blood but dammit, by morals. Someone should take me out back and put a bullet in my head for the nasty, filthy fucking fantasies I want to fulfill with the sweet little thing every time she struts her virgin ass by me off to lend a hand with the workers or toss hay.

I know she is a virgin because I make damn sure any boy who dares to come sniffing around understands who her uncle is. Former Army Ranger, eldest Urban son of the Urban dynasty leading back three generations and the hardass who will put any man who dared touch my girl six feet under.