Alphas of Red Moon Ranch(11)

Chapter 9


As Jacob’s truck rumbled down the road, he chanced a glance in the rearview mirror and watched Holly turn around and walk back up to his house. That perfect hourglass figure, that ginger hair long enough to wrap around his fist, that blush. She was the full package and it was enough to make his heart (and his cock) swell. He tore his eyes away to keep himself from running straight off the dirt road and looked ahead instead. That’s when he noticed it.

For the first time in a long time, his hands weren’t shaking. For the first time in a long time, his Beast had settled down in his skin. Sure, he’d felt an ache in his gums every now and then, a near overwhelming need to pin her to the picnic blanket and sink his teeth in her neck, Marking her. But that was different; it wasn’t the exhausting daily turmoil, the bear inside of him clawing at the edges of his mind, begging to come out. The struggle that made his head pound and his hands shake.

They were still as anything now. With Holly, he felt calm. At peace.

Oh God, he thought to himself. She’s the one.





Chapter 10


Holly fretted with her blue plaid dress as the truck bu-bumped down the dirt road. She’d chosen this dress for the family dinner because of its cute collar that tucked around her neck, hiding her voluptuous (and admittedly distracting) cleavage, but now she worried about the length and tugged it further over her knees. Glad that she’d chosen black stockings to match and French heels, but she was still feeling incredibly out of her element. It didn’t help that she hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep in last night—her dreams had been vivid and, with Jacob’s old-earth scent ingrained deep in his bedsheets, she’d woken up in the middle of the night crying out his name and clamping her thighs around her swollen clit as it throbbed with torturous, orgasmic bliss.

As if he could sense her discomfort, Jacob glanced over at her. He drew a grin under his Stetson hat. “You look great.”

“Thanks.” She tinkered with her earrings as she stared out the window, watching the ranch houses pass by. She felt Jacob’s hand draw hers away from her ear before he entwined their fingers and squeezed. She felt a small smile curl her lips and the anxiety fluttering in her chest was (at least partially) smothered by his secure hold.

Jacob pulled the truck up to a ranch house and parked it outside. There were already three other trucks lined up in a hodgepodge fashion around the perimeter of the house. Holly said, “This house belongs to…”

“Mama Mae,” Jacob said.

“And inside is your brother Brent, your sister Cassidy, and her husband Dave. They have twins, Tanner and Trish.”

“Look at you.” He grinned.

She shrugged. “If I had a bad memory, I’d make a pretty bad teacher, wouldn’t I?”

He pressed a kiss to her hand. The bristling of his beard sent a shiver through her middle and straight between her legs. Now if she only didn’t have that distraction…

“You’ll do great,” he said.

They got out of the truck and she carried a plate to the door. No ringing the doorbell here—Jacob just pushed on through the open door and called out, “Mama! You got company.”

The place was homely, filled with warm colors and trinkets. Mama Mae barely made it in the room before Jacob scooped her up. She laughed, surprised, and then said, “Good to see you too, honey. And who’s this?”

“This is Holly,” Jacob said.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Westmore,” Holly said, extending her hand.

“Well, well.” Mama Mae crinkled her eyes in a smile. She was a handsome older woman with long silver hair. “It isn’t often Jacob brings a woman home. And a respectable-looking one at that. You can call me Mama Mae, everyone else does.”

“I’ll be damned!” A spitfire of a woman tumbled out of the kitchen and rocked back on cowboy boots, a smug grin stamped on her face. This had to be Cassidy, his sister. “Jacob brought a girl home! Dave, kids, come out and see this!”

Holly spotted Jacob catch Cassidy’s arm. “She’s not a zoo animal,” he reminded plainly.

“No, that’d be you, right?” Cassidy winked and nudged him in the ribs before launching herself at Holly, pulling her into a hug. “Cassidy. We’ve been waiting for you for ten years. No pressure or anything.”

Holly—to her credit—took it in stride. She laughed and said, “I work best under pressure.”

“You hear that?” Cassidy slapped Jacob on the shoulder. “I like her already. C’mon in—what’s this?”

“Oh, this is chicken cordon bleu.” Holly beamed, proud. She’d torn apart Jacob’s kitchen just to get the right ingredients.