What Happens at the Ranch... Read online

  “Not yet,” he murmured against her lips. “Next time, we’ll make it to the bed. But right now, I need you here.”

  He elevated her even higher and spun them toward the entryway table. When he swung her onto the edge, something went crashing to the floor. Maybe it was a lamp, she thought as she felt for Grayson’s belt buckle. If he wasn’t going to worry about it, then neither would she. Drawing in a ragged breath, she slipped her hands below his waistband. He was hard and ready for her.

  Tessa’s entire body vibrated with need. Specifically, the need for him to take her hard and fast. Anything slower or gentler would just be patronizing. She was done with him thinking of her as some sort of delicate flower that needed coddling.

  Grayson captured one of her calves and pulled it away from his waist just long enough to unzip her boot and yank it off. The other one followed and, in a matter of seconds, his wide palms were skimming both her jeans and panties off her hips, sending them sliding down her thighs.

  He withdrew something from his back pocket right before she pushed his jeans down lower. She heard the tearing of the foil packet. Grayson reached between them to sheath his length in a condom then positioned himself at her entrance. A tremor started deep inside Tessa’s core and she was afraid she would lose herself before they’d even started.

  His teeth grazed the lobe of her ear as he asked, “You ready for this?”

  “Please don’t stop now,” she told him and linked her ankles behind his back.

  Grayson entered her swiftly and she gasped, shuddering from the fullness of him. He dipped his hips lower, adjusting his angle, and joined their bodies together again and again. She didn’t know where her breathing started and where his ended. The marbled entryway echoed every moan and whimper and sigh. Each thrust brought him deeper, brought them closer.

  His breath was hot and fast against her cheek. His skin smelled of soap and eucalyptus, and she traced her lips along his jawline and back to his mouth, the whiskers of his five-o’clock shadow making her tingle even more. He captured her tongue once again and dug his fingers into the curve of her hips, holding her in place as he brought her to the highest peak.

  He let out a final groan as he shuddered, his release coming right after hers. When the aftershocks faded, Tessa felt the rise and fall of his chest against hers. Their heart rates returned to a normal pace and he buried his mouth against the softest part of her neck.

  Tessa didn’t think it was possible, but Grayson lifted her even closer to him. He held her tightly as he walked toward the bed. When he lay down next to her on the white sheets, his finger started a trail at her collarbone, moving between her breasts and dipping below her belly button.

  She shivered then offered him a satisfied smile. “Now what?”

  “Now—” he moved over her “—I’m going to take my time.”

  * * *

  Grayson caught sight of a bruise on Tessa’s right hip as she stretched in bed early the following morning. Wincing, he asked, “Did I do that?”

  “I hope so.” She smiled at him. Her eyes glanced at the bedside clock and she gave him a sly grin. “Do you have time before your shift starts to kiss it and make it better?”

  Growling, his hand snaked around her waist and he pulled her to him. But before they could start another round of lovemaking, her smartphone vibrated on the nightstand with an incoming call. He tried to ignore it, but then there were a series of pings as the screen lit up with several notification bubbles.

  Tessa sighed. “I should probably get that.”

  She stretched across him to reach for her phone and he took the opportunity to playfully lick the pink nipple poised directly over his head. Unfortunately, her groan wasn’t one of pleasure.

  He scooted out from underneath her and saw that her face had lost some color. “What’s wrong?”

  Instead of replying, she showed him her phone screen and his stomach sank. The image on the screen showed Grayson and Tessa clinging to each other in a passionate kiss. In the picture, he could make out the rows of liquor bottles behind them, the green knit cap sitting on the bar beside Tessa.

  He didn’t bother asking the question he already knew the answer to. The photo could only have been taken last night, when they’d been so engrossed in each other, he hadn’t thought about anything else. Grayson sagged against the upholstered headboard, resting his elbows on his knees as he rubbed at his face and dragged his hands through his hair.

  He breathed in through his nose several times as he struggled to bring his frustration under control. When he finally raised his head, Tessa was staring off into the distance. He put his hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. “I’m sorry, Tess. I should’ve had better situational awareness. I knew the huge windows were a risk and I let my guard down.”

  Instead of berating him—like she had the first time they’d met—she smoothed his hair off his forehead. “You weren’t on duty, remember? It wasn’t your responsibility to protect me or my reputation last night. Besides, it’s not like anyone could really confirm it’s us.”

  The tiniest flicker of hope spiked through his chest, even as he lowered an eyebrow in doubt.

  “Look.” She held up the phone again. “It only shows the sides of our faces and they’re all smooshed together...”

  Her voice trailed off as her thumb swiped the screen and another image appeared. This time, it was a picture of them turned toward each other, not quite kissing, so their profiles were easier to identify. She swiped again and there they were, facing the camera—wherever it had been hiding—and holding hands as they exited the bar. In the third shot, there was absolutely no question that the people in the photo were Grayson and Tessa.

  Damn. His fist clenched the pillow as he fought the urge to throw something across the room. Instead of succumbing to his mounting frustration, he slipped the phone from her hand and brought it closer so he could read the article underneath. His eyes landed on phrases like “bodyguard for hire” and “boy toy” and “Davis Townsend’s replacement.”

  But the worst part of the article was the last paragraph where it listed his name and what exactly he did for the Secret Service, including his office location and team assignment. There was even a picture of Grayson in full tactical gear with several other agents when he’d been on the counter assault team a few years ago.

  He was no longer the mysterious Agent Steamy, he realized as his blood ran cold. Not only had his cover been blown, his entire career had been turned into tabloid fodder. It would only be a matter of time until the press got wind of Maddie and started showing up at her hospital.

  “How do you deal with this all the time?” he asked, unable to hide the disgust in his voice.

  “Deal with what? The complete lack of privacy?” Tessa shrugged, taking her phone back. “I grew up with it. My dad was in high-profile politics before I was even born. Being surrounded by cameras constantly is a tough lifestyle, but it’s all I’ve ever known.”

  “Most of your siblings could say the same thing. Yet you’re the only King who sought a career in the limelight.”

  “I didn’t seek it.” Tessa pulled the sheet up over her naked breasts and lifted her chin. “I majored in political science because it was a way to understand my father better, to understand the thing he loved as much as his family. It turned from researching to analyzing and, eventually, my dad coming to me for advice. I’d had a front-row seat to government in action my whole life and I was good at asking the right questions and digging for answers. The cameras were there long before I came along. I just learned how to do what I was good at while they were already rolling.”

  “Remember that time you commented on how I never seemed to be off duty?” he asked then waited for her stiff nod before continuing. “Well, when does Tessa King ever get a break to just be herself? Don’t you ever get tired of constantly being on display for the world to see?
With always having to fall in line with the public’s perception of you whether you agree with it or not?”

  Tessa’s spine straightened. “Grayson, this is my life. My career. Yes, I chose it. And I’d choose it again because I’m doing a job that I love. A job that I think actually matters. People deserve to have a free press and access to global information. Not all journalists and reporters are like these guys.” She pointed to the name of the online gossip rag on her screen.

  “I get that. But it’s nobody’s business whether or not ‘Beautiful Heiress Tessa King Slips Off to Love Nest with Sexy Bodyguard,’” he quoted the headline. “I never asked for this kind of notoriety.”

  “Grayson, I never intended for you to be the subject of unwanted fame and attention. I don’t blame you for being upset. But at the end of the day, this is what my job entails. I want you in my life. However, if you want to have any sort of relationship with me, then this is part of the package.”

  Grayson tried to latch onto the words he’d wanted to hear since he’d left the Twin Kings Ranch. Tessa King wanted him in her life. The bond they shared was way more than just a physical attraction.

  Instead of euphoria, though, it was a bittersweetness that hung in the air between them. Because no matter how much they might want to be together, there was too much keeping them apart.

  “Of course I want to have a relationship with you, Tessa.” Grayson climbed out of the bed and looked around the hotel room floor for his discarded pants. “I don’t want to have to sneak around to have one, either. When we were on the ranch, I fell for you harder than I could’ve imagined. The problem is that my job, my life, demands discretion. I’m trained to stay in the shadows and not draw any attention to the people I’m protecting. I can’t do my job if the paparazzi are constantly dogging me or flashing my picture all over the internet.”

  He was also trained to retreat and reformulate a plan once he determined what he was up against. Or maybe this was it. The battle was over and it was time to admit defeat and tend to his wounds.

  Grayson finally found his jeans on the marble floor in the entryway. Right next to the upended lamp he’d knocked over when he’d made love to Tessa before they could reach the bed. The memory flooded through him, taking some of the sting out of his disappointment. He yanked his jeans into place, trying not to think of her breathy little pants last night as she’d begged him for more.

  Tessa appeared in the entryway behind him, her messy blond curls framing her proud face. She’d kept the sheet wrapped around her torso, but her swollen lips were turned down at the corners.

  “When I met you at the bar last night, I’d hoped for a better ending than this,” she offered. “I fell for you just as hard. Literally. I’d tried to stay away this past month to give us space so we could figure out who we were outside of the ranch, and what we both wanted. But it looks like this is how things have to be if we both want to keep doing what we’re made to do. I’m sorry, Grayson.”

  “I know.” He exhaled. “I’m sorry, too.”

  She didn’t tell him to stay. She didn’t tell him that they could work through this together. Most important, she didn’t ask him to give up his job or anything else to be with her.

  In that moment, Grayson loved her even more.

  His phone pinged from inside his jacket pocket, where he’d left it last night. He pulled it out to see an incoming message from SAIC Simon. Just when Grayson thought his heart couldn’t take any more blows, another round breached his walls.

  “Listen. I’ve got to go to work.” He didn’t add that Simon had just informed him he was officially off protective detail now that his temporary celebrity status could compromise the assignment. He didn’t want Tessa to blame herself.

  Twelve hours ago, he’d never expected them to ride into the sunset together. So then why did it suddenly feel as though he was leaving part of himself behind? Grayson’s insides twisted with remorse knowing that this was the end of the road for them. Things had ended almost as quickly as they had begun.

  The longing for her, though, would likely never go away.

  Tessa stood there, the sheet clasped around her, her shoulders back and her chin high. She may be disappointed, but she wouldn’t admit it. Tessa King would dive into another new project in no time.

  Before he walked out the door, he gave her cheek one last caress and whispered, “Take care of yourself.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “No, I haven’t heard from him in over three days,” Tessa told Aunt Freckles the following Saturday afternoon via video chat from the comfort of the sleek leather sofa inside her Georgetown town house. Freckles must have set her smartphone on the counter while she poured batter into cupcake cups because Tessa could see most of the Twin Kings’ kitchen in the background.

  She was surprised at the pang of wistfulness for her childhood home. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that everyone in her family was busy today prepping for a birthday party for Marcus’s twins. After spending so much time in Wyoming recently, Tessa suddenly felt as though she was missing out on something.

  “So he split, just like that, huh?” Freckles called out over her shoulder as she slid a tray of cupcakes into the oven. “Do you know if he’s still in Philadelphia?”

  Tessa shook her head. “At least, I don’t think so. I ran into Agent Doherty in the Ritz lobby the day after we, uh, had drinks.” She certainly wasn’t going to give her aunt too many details and risk Freckles wanting to return the favor by offering up details of her and Uncle Rider’s bedroom time. Tessa shuddered before continuing. “Doherty said Grayson was transferred from the assignment. He didn’t say where, and I was too embarrassed to ask.”

  “What do you have to be embarrassed about?” Freckles asked as she returned to her mixing bowl, which must have been where the phone was propped because all Tessa could see was a close-up view of the Cowgirl Up Café logo across the woman’s too tight T-shirt.

  Tessa blinked several times before deciding it was easier to focus on the cherry blossom trees outside her window than on her senior citizen aunt’s substantial bosom. “Because it was being with me that cost Grayson his job. Or at least his job in the Protective Intelligence Division.”

  “Darlin’, don’t you ever apologize for being a woman in the prime of your life. You have physical needs. Heck, we all do.” Freckles added with a chuckle, “It’s why I keep letting your uncle Rider talk me into staying at his cabin every night.”

  This was the exact visual Tessa had been trying to avoid. But how could she fault anyone for sharing too much information about their love life? Half the world had seen that intimate picture of Tessa and Grayson making out in some dive bar in Philadelphia.

  “Now, I know sometimes men don’t always think with the head upstairs.” Freckles used a measuring spoon to point at her helmet of orangish-colored curls. “But, from what I saw, that Agent Wyatt is a planner. One of those fellas that calculates risks and strategies and keeps an eye out for hidden land mines. You never pretended to be anyone other than yourself. He knew exactly what he was getting into from the moment he first met you.”

  Tessa let the words settle over her. “Maybe that’s why he seemed to already have his exit strategy in place.”

  “Then again...” Freckles tsked as she returned to the center island to pour out another batch. “Fame’s not for everyone, darlin’. I couldn’t wait to leave it all behind the second I turned eighteen. The day after my debutante ball, I hauled butt outta Boston so fast, those Beacon Hill society matrons’ heads were spinning.”

  “I know.” Tessa frowned, trying to figure out if her aunt was on her side or his. Freckles could play a mean devil’s advocate. “I don’t blame Grayson for not wanting to be a part of all that. Deep inside, I think we both knew that anything serious between us wouldn’t have worked in the long run. I guess I was just hoping things could’ve lasted a little longer.”
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  “If I’ve learned a little something from my seventy-plus years on this earth, it’s how to deal with heartbreak.”

  “Seventy-plus years?” Tessa’s mother glided into the kitchen just then and stopped at the specialty blender on the counter behind Freckles. “More like eighty-plus years.”

  Freckles flicked some of the flour off her hands and the white powder clung to the back of Sherilee’s bright cashmere sweater.

  Tessa rolled her eyes at the two women. Maybe she didn’t miss home as much as she’d first thought. Normally, she would’ve called Duke for advice, but he was on a classified assignment.

  “I’m not suffering from anything as serious as heartbreak, Aunt Freckles,” Tessa said, knowing full well it was a lie. If she hadn’t already been half in love with Grayson when he’d been on that diving board with her, then it would’ve happened when he’d done the gentlemanly thing and given her the space to figure out her feelings on her own.

  “When you think about the man, does your rib cage get all tight? Do you spend so much time thinking about what he might be doing that when you walk into a room, you forget why you went in there in the first place?” The loose skin on Freckles’s neck wobbled as she nodded knowingly. “If so, it’s definitely a broken heart.”

  “It could also be another panic attack.” Her mom dropped a bag of fresh kale as she rushed over to the smartphone screen. “Have you seen your neurologist yet, Contessa?”

  “It’s not a panic attack, Mom. Or heartbreak. It’s just...” An empty feeling, Tessa thought. A feeling of jumping off a high dive and expecting to hit the water but just free-falling into air. She bit back the words to keep from saying as much out loud. “I don’t know what it is.”

  “Uh-oh.” Sherilee narrowed her eyes as though she could study Tessa’s emotions through the screen. “You don’t know what it is because you’ve never felt it before. I experienced the same thing when I fell head-over-heels for your father. I was young. I’d never been in love before. I thought I had my life all planned out in my mind. Then Roper King showed up and turned my whole world upside down. One minute I was telling myself all the reasons why this older guy with a campaign bus full of baggage was all wrong for me and the next I couldn’t imagine spending my life without him.”