Chasing Home (Cherry Peak Book 3)

by Hannah Cowan

“Give me your word, Johnny. Promise me this is serious, and I’ll get on a flight as soon as I can,” Wanda says, the biting edge in her voice dulled considerably.

His mouth brushes over my hair as he says, “I promise you that this is real. You’ve got a sister, Wanda, and you’ll want to meet her. I can also promise you that.”

“Are you okay?” I ask, my voice half-muffled by Rory’s hair. She breathes in and out and jerks her head in a nod. The fruity smell of her shampoo works its way up my nose as I press another kiss to her crown. Every minute that she stays in my arms, I grow calmer. More at peace. A sense of rightness settles deep in my subconscious, and I’m certain that this is exactly where I need to be.

I cup her hips and press us into the shadows, her back against the wall. She lets me move us, not letting so much as a peep escape her. It’s worrisome, turning my protectiveness up a notch.

“Don’t laugh at me right now,” she scolds, but there’s no heat behind it. “I’m not laughin’ at you, darlin’.” “Right.”

“I’m trying not to lose my shit right now, actually,” I admit. “Why?” “Why am I trying not to lose my shit?” “Yeah.” I almost laugh again. “Isn’t it obvious?” “Clearly not,” she grumbles. Pulling back enough to stare down at her, I curl a finger beneath her chin and lift it.

“I don’t like it when you’re upset, Rory. Not one damn bit.” Her shoulder lifts. “It’s not the end of the world.” “Feels like it to me.”

“You didn’t have to come save me, Johnny. I can take care of myself,” she murmurs. “Do I look put out by comin’? Because I sure don’t feel anything but grateful to have been here for you.” I hear her swallow before she tightens her arms around my waist and hugs me. Hugs. Me. With her cheek flat to my chest, I know she can hear the way my heart speeds to a dangerous tempo.

“Do I get to ask you any questions, or do you just get to ask me them?” I flash her a smile. “You can ask me anything you want.” “What are your mothers’ names? Eliza mentioned that you have two.” “Goin’ right for my heart, I see,” I tease while we pass the ranch house. “Jennifer and Rachel. They’re two of the best people you’ll ever meet.”

“How do they feel about having so many daughters and only one son? You’re a bit outnumbered,” she says with a soft curl of her mouth. “A bit outnumbered? Try a lot. I know more about periods and acrylic nails than I do cattle.” “So, does that mean you aren’t one of those guys that gets sent to the store to buy tampons and has to send a thousand pictures of the different kinds for approval before finally grabbing one?”

“Nah, gorgeous. You send me out, and I’ll come back with all the top-of-the-line products, plus everything else you’ll need. No picture sending necessary.” “That’s a big promise,” she muses. “And one I can fulfill.” “We’ll see.”

“You say that as if I’ll get a chance to prove it to you.” Her smirk is coy and makes my cock stiffen in my jeans. I shift in my seat and attempt to subtly adjust my hard-on.

“Okay, do you have anything in mind, then?” “Surprise me.” Two words have never sounded so exciting. “That’s a dangerous request to make of a guy like me.” “A guy like you?” “Yeah, the type that wants nothing more than to impress a girl like you and is willing to do just about anything to accomplish it.” “I’ve never known a guy like you, Johnny,” she admits softly, almost nervously.

I reach across the dash and drop my hand on her thigh. She glances down at it before looking over at me. I fucking love her pink cheeks.

“Seems we were both in for a surprise, then,” I reply before giving her thigh a squeeze and keeping it there. A ...

He strides toward the woman with a look I’ve grown used to seeing. Happiness, a steady calm. She tosses her arms around his neck and squeals while hugging him tight and for far too long. He hugs her back, and I inhale a sharp breath through my nose when something angry and very, very green flares in my mind. It’s like I’ve tossed back a shot of poison as I work to keep my expression unbothered and climb out after him.

“Jill’s family are the biggest horse breeders in Alberta. We’ve gotten all our horses from them,” Johnny explains. When he gets closer to me and slips a finger through one of my belt loops, I fight the instinct to shove him off.

With a look of understanding, she turns to me. “Do you ride too?” “No.” I hate how stiff the word sounds. “Rory’s a new resident of Cherry Peak. A city girl from Calgary,” Johnny says, the fingers not looped in my pants brushing the jean material at the top of my ass.

One minuscule glance at the ground and I realize that his boots are nearly the same shade as hers. Fuck, even their hats are similar. Did they call each other to plan this outfit coordination this morning? Do they talk often? Jesus Christ, this is not a rabbit hole I want to go down right now. I’m thirty, not thirteen. Grow up.

Jill’s laugh rings through the ranch, carried on the breeze. I stiffen, and when Johnny tugs on my belt loop in an attempt to get my attention, I know he’s noticed. He does it again, but this time, I step to the side, forcing him to let go of me.

He yanks the door open, and Jill steps inside first. I keep pace with her and move past Johnny without planning on saying a word. The hand on my arm when I step around him ruins my plans. “What’s wrong?” he asks quietly, those long fingers keeping a gentle hold on me. One jerk and I’d be free. I stare straight ahead into the stable. “I’m fine.” “You’re lying.” “We’re here on behalf of Steele Ranch, Johnny. This is work.”

“If you want someone to flirt with while we’re here, I’m sure Jill is up to banter. You seem to be enjoying doing it already.” His thumb slips over the skin below my elbow, and something about the soft touch draws my eyes. The sight of him touching me is too much right now. My middle caves in as I ache to feel his hands all over me. Head to toe, I don’t care. Anywhere would suffice. I’d take anything to stifle this want.

“Rory,” he rasps. “Look at me.” I wet my dry lips and lie through my teeth. “I want you to let go of me.” He does immediately. I leave him there before I can tell him to hold me again. I’d never be able to scrape my pride off the ground after that.

A gate rattles as I move down the line of pens, peeking inside each one as if something’s tugging me along. I nearly trip when a long blonde nose juts out over the gate one pen ahead and a snort fills the air.

“Um, hi,” I mutter when a few seconds pass without teeth chomping. Taking two steps forward, I keep a distance between myself and the mystery nose before peering inside the pen. My eyes go wide when I see the horse staring right at me, brown eyes curious.

I’m pleasantly surprised when the horse doesn’t bite me but shoves that giant nose into my palm instead. “Oh. You are nice, then.” “She likes you,” Johnny says.

“Why did you come over here?” he asks, keeping his distance. I think I hate that more than him being too close. “I wanted to.”

“She really, really likes you, Rory.” “It’s a girl?” “You didn’t check?” he asks, sounding like he’s holding back a laugh. I scowl. “No, I didn’t check. I was busy doing other things.”

“Yeah, darlin’. It’s a she. A beautiful she too.” “She’s gorgeous,” I whisper, shifting my touch lower down her neck before scratching gently. “Are you sure you’ve never even seen a horse before?” “Never up close like this.”

“She likes you too, apparently,” I say bitterly. “Joker will be jealous when she smells her on me.” Seems Joker and I have a lot more in common than I thought.

There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s right. The moment we leave this place and he has me trapped back in that truck, I’m his to command, and we both know it.

Every minute that passes with Aurora giving me the cold shoulder feels like an eternity. She’s completely closed herself off to me, and it upsets me nearly as much as it turns me all the way on.

“I don’t remember you having such a heavy set of balls on you the last time you were here,” he mutters. “Stop playing hardball, Dad. The Steeles will take good care of her,” Jill says, standing close to me again, her hand on my arm. A glance over my shoulder at where Aurora leans against the side of the horse trailer, her arms crossed and eyes shooting hellfire at Jill’s hand, has me nonchalantly leaning away.

“My girl likes her, Rich. That’s all that matters to me.”

“I appreciate the talk, Jill, but I just really want to get this done,” I tell her, softening my tone as much as possible. Crossing into the stable, I head directly for Frost’s pen before I’m tugged by the back of my shirt. I sigh and turn to face Jill. The spark in her eyes makes guilt creep in.

This trip was supposed to be a chance to get Aurora out of town and away from the ranch for a while. Horses are an integral part of my life, and yeah, while I didn’t want to go by myself today, I brought her here to introduce her to my world a bit more without the weight of everyone back home watching.

“I don’t like being ordered around, Johnny.” I huff a laugh. “Well, that’s too bad, darlin’.” The first thing I notice when she rounds the back of the trailer is her glare. It snares me, promising to set me on fire. I almost surrender to the call of the flickering flames. Would they brand me with her initials or melt me from the inside out?

“Are you expecting an apology from me for that?” “Not in the slightest. But I do expect honesty in return for all of mine.”

“What you want is for me to break myself open and spill every single thought I’ve ever had.” “When they involve me, fuckin’ right I do.” “They all involve you!” she shouts, arms flying as she looks back at me. “From that first night, you’ve occupied my mind like a disease! It was curiosity at first. Confusion as to why you came for me that night and why I let you. I don’t believe in fate or coincidences, yet every single day with you, the universe tries to change my mind.

knew you were jealous. Knew that’s why you were so cold and closed off. I just hoped you had more faith in me than to believe I was enjoying anyone’s company as much as I enjoy yours. Or that every time she spoke to me, I wasn’t wishin’ it was you instead. I was being polite instead of tossing her across the ranch the moment she touched me like I wanted to.”

“What exactly should you have had to do to expect loyalty from me?” “I don’t know. Given you something, at least! We haven’t even kissed, Johnny. I haven’t done anything besides run⁠—” It only takes one step forward to be able to take her face in my hands. I drop my head and brush my lips over hers, testing the soft, plump feel of her mouth. Tasting her for the first time without taking our first real kiss. Swallowing the rest of her sentence and the wobbly exhale that follows.

“If you wanted me to kiss you, Rory, you should have just said so,” I whisper, splaying my fingers to touch as much of her cheeks as possible before pressing our mouths together.

The ache in my chest only grew once I learned Lee had a family. One created after abandoning mine. The feeling of being unworthy grew and grew until it started eating away at my soul. Its feasting halted when I met Johnny. For small moments in my every day, whenever he appeared with his crooked grin and dimpled cheek, that feeling of unworthiness fell prey to something else. Something warm and soft.

It’s not even the way he smells so damn sexy or how good it feels to kiss him that has me throbbing between my legs so fiercely, but the strength in which he holds me to him. With the confidence of a man who knows exactly what he wants and isn’t afraid to do everything in his power to get it.

“Do you have a habit of getting jealous, Aurora?” The use of my full name angers me as much as it did the first thousand times he’s said it today. “Don’t call me that.” “Call you what?” “Aurora. I’m not Aurora to you.” He leans close enough to kiss me but doesn’t. “Why not?” “Fuck you, Johnny,” I hiss before curling my hand around the back of his neck and kissing him.

“Don’t call me what everyone else does. I’m not everyone else to you anymore.”

“What are you waiting for?” “Something more.” It’s hard to focus when he touches me. With a stroke of his fingernail along the waistband of my jeans, I shiver. “Haven’t I told you enough already?” I ask, too close to resorting to begging for him to slide his hand inside my underwear and feel the mess I’ve made because of him. “Not even close.” “Touch me and I’ll tell you more.” He pulls back, and our eyes meet again. I’ve never seen his so dark as they flick between mine, searching for the truth in the words I spoke.

“Take them off,” I beg, already shoving the one side down my hip. “If you stop, I’m going to die, Johnny. I need⁠—” He cuts me off with a hard, possessive kiss. “I know what you need. You don’t have to beg me for anything. Ever.”

He pinches my clit again, and I go off like a fucking firework. Colours fill my vision as I cry, “Yes! Yes, I want to have a claim on you!” “Christ, that’s it. You’ve already claimed me, gorgeous. Now it’s fuckin’ written in stone,” he murmurs.

I’m too weak-willed not to deny him, and I’m glad about that once I see why he wanted me to look. My belly flutters at the sight of him sucking his fingers clean, my cum all over them. It’s primitive and dirty, yet I love it and want him to do it every single time we do this. “Next time, I’m going to taste you right from the source,” he promises. And I believe him.