Page 59 of Toxic

“Yeah,” he said laughing. “I wish I’d seen the look on yours.”

“You were too busy tossing me over your shoulder,” I pointed out.

“Bet you were red as a tomato.”

“You told some random man I’d offered to…blow you, Toxic. Yeah, I was red.” I was blushingnowjust thinking about it.

His eyes slid over to me and the smile had dropped off his face. “Yeah. Don’t say that.”

“Say what?” I asked, confused about the sudden seriousness on his face.

“Let’s not talk about you blowing me. Otherwise I’m going to find a random parking garage around here and let you.”

My pussy clenched. His voice had dropped down into that sexy growl, only this time he wasn’t acting for some woman behind a desk. I could hear the difference now in his tone, the genuine interest in his words. “You seem to be forgetting that I never offered that,” I told him, voice a little breathy. I prayed he didn’t notice, or else Imightoffer. All bets were off with him. He affected me in a way I didn’t think possible.

“The guys are meeting us out at the ranch in a couple hours,” he said.

The change of subject was jarring, but I just nodded and went with it. “We’re skipping over one of the fields. The one earmarked for the cattle is about a half mile from where they are now.” My skin was sensitive and on fire. I wanted to run my cold hands over it to help cool off my embarrassment and arousal.

Glancing over, I saw that Toxic was rhythmically clenching his hands on the steering wheel. I had a feeling if I did anything to encourage him right now, he’d make good on his threat to find a parking spot. As much as I’d love to let him take care of this ache between my thighs, I knew it was a bad idea.

Getting involved with a man like this was counterproductive. I wasn’t looking for a quick fling. I was twenty-nine years old,there wasn’t really any time to waste with men who didn’t want relationships. When I eventually got married, I wanted a solid, steady man. One who only had eyes for me. Who would do whatever it took to keep me happy. And I would do the same for him. We’d live on and run my ranch together. Have enough babies that our hearts would never be empty, and grow old together.

I just wanted someone who lovedme.Who sawme. Understood those deep parts of myself that no one really knew. The parts that I haven’t shared with anyone. There must have been a part of me that realized that Will wasn’t the one, because I never gave him access to that true me.

My friends and family got to see bits and flashes of her, of course. I didn’t pretend with them. But I truly believed that only the person who the other half of your heart was designed for, would ever know you on that deep level. It was fanciful. Which was funny because that wasn’t a word that would usually be used to describe me, but there it was.

“Well, this afternoon is going to be entertaining, if nothing else,” Toxic said with a grin that I could only describe as feral.

“What?” We’d both been sitting in silence for long enough, I’d forgotten what we’d been talking about.

“Not one of my brothers knows how to ride a horse.” He grinned over at me. “They’re getting a crash course.”

“Are the women and children coming over?” I asked.

“Not today. I want to get this done and it’ll never happen if we’re trying to corral the hellionsandthe cows.”

My smile softened. “You love them.”

“Who?” he asked, eyes darting my way before flicking back to the road.

“Those little girls.”

“Oh… yeah. Sure. I love all my brothers’ kids.”

The way he said it was so relaxed, I knew it was the truth, but he didn’t seem to understand how attractive that was. There was just something about seeing a strong masculine man honestly enjoying spending time around kids that made me melt.

Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have the families out to my ranch. I was already struggling to keep him at arm’s length. I didn’t need to see him interacting with his family any more than necessary.

“I still don’t get what this company had to do with Fission Solutions?” I asked, trying to force my thoughts away from Toxic holding a chubby cheeked baby. I didn’t know why that image popped up in my head, but it kept coming up and my heart was starting to feel…yearnings.

“It’s one of the offshoot companies that belong to Jonathan Brently. Fission Solutions is the parent company, but he has plenty of others in the nuclear sector. That one, EcoAlign, offers services to other smaller companies to bring them in compliance with the EPA.”

I shook my head as I listened to him. He and his brothers had already managed to find out so much information on these companies in such a short amount of time. No wonder Keely had sent them to help me. I was beginning to think there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do.

It was validating to know that my suspicions had been right, but the more I learned, the more nervous I got. How was I supposed to fight back against a company like this? Would Cholla Summit Ranch ever be safe with Uranium deposits underneath it? This wasn’t going to be the only company interested in my land. Even if we manage to get them to disappear, who’s to say someone else wouldn’t show up?

“Rip will look through the files we downloaded and see if there’s any kind of link between the two companies and Cholla Summit. Fission Solutions is based in Chicago. Doesn’t meanBrently couldn’t be pulling strings from there. He likely is. But someone’s doing his dirty work here and men like that don’t handle their own violence.”

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