Page 25 of Destined Predator
Casey couldn’t recall.
And maybe that was the point. Maybe this was the first time it had ever felt like holding someone wasn’t just aftercare—it was the whole damn reason for the night.
Chapter Eleven
When was the last time Casey held someone like that?The question nagged away at Rhett, even now two days after what he privately, feeling like a high school girl, thought of assex under the stars. He wasn’t asking himself the question because he was jealous—well, not much—but because Casey hadn’tsaidit.Yeah, that makes a whole passel of sense, you dumb rancher.
Rhett tried again to reason things out. Casey hadn’t asked himself that—out loud. He’dthoughtit. Been wondering it. And Rhett had heard it. No, Rhett told himself again.That’s impossible. Maybe I could tell from his face, or his eyes, what he was thinking. Like it’s a common-enough thing to have on your mind, after sex.
But that didn’t explain how clear it had been. Like the words had brushed straight against his skin instead of his ears.
He repeated it to himself again, staring unseeing into the pasture he was supposed to be checking for soil loss. Because thealternative was that he’d heard Casey’s thoughts. And if he had, that meant—No.I’m just influenced by being around Jack and Ben, with all that crazy mind-melding stuff they do, picking up on each other’s thoughts and feeling the other’s emotions. It’s contagious. Like grass staggers in a winter herd.
Because Ben and Jack were destined mates.
And he didn’t even fuck me.The memory burned hot and confusing—half pride, half shame, all hunger. Every time he thought he’d buried it, his body remembered first. What he and Casey had shared had rocked Rhett’s world, so what would happen when they did? What Casey and hehaddone—how Rhett had behaved—was still playing on a loop in his brain even forty-eight hours later. After the blow job by the hot tub, Casey had walked him to his room, like he hadn’t just dominated the hell out of him. Like they had been out at a high school dance, or gone for a malt at the drive-in. Rhett had kinda expected flowers the next day. Which made him the chick in the relationship, for all Casey had said Rhett held all the power and—
“Hey!”
Was this the third time in three days his brother had been trying to get his attention? Rhett had given up counting. He raised his head in a nod.
“You…okay? I mean, how’re things?” Jack’s tone was as careful as his expression.
“I’m still sitting astride a horse, if that’s what you mean.”
“Hey, I wouldn’t pry. I was asking as you were pale at dinner last night and at breakfast today.”
Yeah, he’d felt a headache trying to make its way into his skull. He wouldn’t let it. He never got sick. But it was no surprise though, not with how he’d been worrying over the crap going on, the attack on Greg and the traps left on Tucker land.
“I haven’t seen Casey around?”
Since you and he obviously got it on the night before last.Rhett filled in the blanks himself. He sighed. Jack wasn’t sticking his nose in, as he’d said. As Rhett knew. “No. I— He checked in by text.” He shrugged.
“Okay.” Jack seemed to understand. “Oh, yeah. Reason I came out here. Those friends of my friends Aaron and Macky in New York, a couple of guys who texted me, remember? They wanna come out this week while they’re in the county, probably as soon as today.”
“Out here? We ain’t a dude ranch.”
“No—”
“Kidding. I remember.” Well, he recalled something. “You said they search for locations, right?”
“Scout.Scout for locations.” Jack gave an exaggerated head shake, presumably at Rhett’s country-bumpkin ways. “For TV and movies and magazine shoots.”
“Well, ain’t that fancy.” Rhett eyed the pasture with its bare patches from over-grazing. He’d have to move this head of cattle. “And they’d wantthis?”
“Who knows?” Jack turned to take in the panorama. “Depending on what they’re scouting for—and they might not be authorized to say—they could be after a small rural town, with all the trimmings. The different locations,” he explained. “They pay a good fee, from what I heard.”
“We ain’t so hard up.”
“Rhett, I can tell them no, if it’s not what you want.”
“No. it’s fine. No problem.” Jack was maybe missing the big-city types he’d been used to working with or mixing with, in his job and leisure time in the Big Apple. “And thanks for checking in on me.”
“You got it.” Jack left.
Feeling like a lovestruck teenager again, Rhett pulled out his phone to read his messages. The phone felt heavier thanit should, like it was holding more than words. Literallyhismessages—the replies he’d sent to Casey’s texts.
Busy on ranch for a few.
