Chapter Two
“What was that about?” Brice asked.
Drew ate his food, enjoying the spicy depth of flavor in the chili. Little Raven Howard was back, and this time, she wasn’t just a little girl anymore. This time, she was all woman, and his dick swelled at the thought of all the sinful things he could do to her. There were five years between them, and there was no way he was ever going to break the law just to have a taste of the girl who used to watch him. She hadn’t been a woman back then, but she was now. Raven was all woman, and he wanted a taste.
The blush on her cheeks, the way she struggled to hold his gaze, and also the way her hand grew clammy—Drew knew without a doubt that she was thinking of all the times she’d stumbled upon him.
He hadn’t lived like a monk. Of course he hadn’t. From the moment he could get his dick up, and a woman to ride him, that was exactly what he’d been doing. Of course, he hadn’t looked Raven’s way. She had been too young. When he noticed her out of the corner of his eye, he’d been uncomfortable at first, but then when her little eighteen-year-old eyes watched him for the last time in the barn just around the back of O’Donald’s office, he’d been determined to have her. Drew couldn’t even remember the woman’s name, but he’d had her bent over a box, and was fucking her so hard that he had to cover her mouth to keep her silent. Raven had been working at the ranch, but he’d rarely seen her as she’d been with Julia at the time. Of course, once he spotted her, and knew she was of age, he’d been planning on asking her out.
Raven had intrigued him, even back then. She had these dark brown eyes, so dark they looked almost black. Thick brown hair, so soft it made him want to run his fingers through it. Staring at her now, he saw she still kept the length, which he liked. It made him want to bend her over, wrap that length around his fist, and fuck her so hard. Damn, her body was fucking hot. No hard edges or bones. It was all woman, all curves, and those tits. He was going to have her naked beneath him, and screaming his name.
Asking her out hadn’t gone to plan at the time. What Drew hadn’t realized was it was Raven’s last day at the ranch. She’d gone home, and he’d decided to leave it ‘til the next day only to discover she was gone.
He’d missed his chance, and over the years he’d thought about her.
Drew had thought about her a lot.
Nothing had prepared him for today.
He noticed a couple of guys go up for seconds, and start talking to her.
“Put the word out, Raven Howard is mine.”
“Seriously, dude? She’s only just got back home, and you’re staking a claim.”
“She’s mine. Make sure every guy knows. They go near her, try to get with her, they’ll end up with broken bones.” Taking another bite of chili, he was satisfied to see that she didn’t encourage their interest.
“Is this the reason you haven’t found a woman?” Brice asked.
“The right woman, son, is the woman that you can’t stop thinking about. She crawls inside you, and all you can think about is being with her, loving her, protecting her. When you find a woman like that, never let her go.”
His father’s words were something he’d lived by. None of the other women he fucked had ever held a candle to this woman. He’d let her get away once, and before she arrived today at the ranch, he’d only been half-living.
Drew realized in that moment, he’d been waiting for her to come back to him. Now she was back, he wasn’t going to let her go.
Seeing as they were the last ones to arrive, they were the last ones to finish.
“Do you want some more chili?” Raven asked.
Brice put down his bowl and grabbed Cathy’s hand, pulling her against him.
Raven’s cheeks went another shade of red.
“No, I’m good. Will you wrap some up for me to take home?”
“Um, I don’t know. Cathy?”
“Yeah, wrap it up. Drew can’t cook for shit, and he always takes the extras home,” Cathy said. A second later her lips were locked on Brice’s, and there was no way they were separating the two.
“It’s been a long time,” Drew said.
“Yeah, seven years.”
“You didn’t come back to the ranch.” He watched as she scooped up the chili, her hand shaking a little bit.
“I did come to, er, say goodbye to you.”
“You did?” he asked.