The Rancher's Rose: Ranchers Only Series Read online

  The Rancher’s Rose

  Copyright © 2018 Elle Christensen

  All Editions

  Cover Design: Elle Christensen

  Photo: Deposit Photos

  Edited: Gray Ink

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information and retrieval system without express written permission from the Author/Publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The Author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication’s use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner.

  All rights reserved.

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  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Prologue

  1. Rose

  2. Garrison

  3. Rose

  4. Garrison

  5. Garrison

  6. Rose

  7. Garrison

  8. Rose

  9. Rose

  10. Garrison

  11. Garrison

  12. Rose

  13. Garrison

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  The End

  Ranchers Only

  Books By Elle Christensne

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  For everyone who waited so patiently

  for Rose and Garrison’s story.

  Prologue

  Garrison

  Eighteen.

  When the fuck had Rose grown up?

  She’d come to live with her half-brother, James, on Locke Creek Ranch, when she was fourteen. Her father and their mother died in a car crash, so James, who was eighteen years older than her, had stepped in to raise her. They were extremely close, she’d even had her last name legally changed to Locke.

  I’d grown up on the ranch since my father was the manager; a job I took over when he died a year after I graduated from college. I was five years younger than James, but we considered each other family and had eventually grown into best friends. So, I treated her like the little sister I never had. For some reason, I could rile her up more than James though and I enjoyed seeing her full of fire.

  Then she’d started to grow up and it rankled me. I felt even more protective of her, which led me to being an ass and giving her a hard time, especially when the subject of boys came up. I knew it made her maddest when I treated her like she was a child and did it often to needle her. I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to push her buttons, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. It drove James crazy that we bickered like real siblings.

  Then one day, she graduated from high school. She’d spent the summer working in Old Bridge, the nearest decent sized town, and we hadn’t seen much of each other. The summer was at its end now and her brother and his wife were throwing her a going away party before she left for Stanford.

  I walked into the yard and there she was, standing with James and Lia, laughing about something. It hit me like a ton of fucking bricks. Rose was all grown up and fucking gorgeous. Her long, black hair was pulled into a ponytail, the color striking against her porcelain skin. She was on the small side, nearly a foot shorter than my six-foot-two. She would be easy to lift and press against a wall. Her face was almost pixie-like with big, blue eyes, a cute nose that turned up just the tiniest bit, and a rosebud mouth that begged to be kissed.

  I suddenly noticed her curvy body with full, perky tits, round hips, and when she turned, I got an eyeful of the most perfect ass I’d ever seen. My pants were becoming uncomfortably snug as I perused her from top to bottom. She laughed again, and the musical sound caused a tightening in my chest.

  Shaking my head, I tried to dispel my lustful thoughts. I shouldn’t be thinking about her like that. James would beat my ass to a pulp if he knew the direction my thoughts had taken. He hated any boy Rose dated, but I was twelve damn years older than her. Too fucking old. But, no matter how many times I told myself that, all night my mind kept slipping back to what it would feel like to have my lips on hers, to have that lush body writhing beneath me. It didn’t help that more often than not when I snuck a peek at her, I found her eyes locking with mine. There was heat in the blue depths, something I sure as fuck wasn’t expecting and knew I should try to snuff out.

  I managed to avoid her for most of the evening. Eventually, I slipped away to the barn with Stone Kensington, a friend who owned Rebel K Ranch, the cattle ranch bordering our other side. We raised thoroughbred racing horses on Locke Creek Ranch and had a large section of land that wasn’t being used. Stone wanted to discuss the possibility of renting it for grazing. We discussed several options and set a time for the following weeks to discuss them with James. Then he left to rejoin the party.

  We had a pregnant filly, but she was a long way off from delivering. Checking on her was just an excuse to keep me from returning to the festivities and Rose. Unfortunately, everything around me reminded me of her. She had never shown interest in running the ranch, but she loved the horses and the land, they were in her blood.

  After looking in on Daisy, I moved to another stall where Chrysanthemum resided. Rose’s horse. James had named her before giving her to Rose on her sixteenth birthday. It was a joke between them. James constantly called her by any flower name but her own.

  “You’re a lucky one, pretty girl,” I told her. Talking to a horse...not a good sign for the state of my sanity. “Rose rides you hard and often.” Okay, that wasn’t what I meant to say, it just sort of slipped out of my dirty subconscious.

  “You might find I’d do the same to you, if only you’d ask.”

  I spun around at the sound of Rose’s voice and stared at her slack-jawed. I was stunned to find her there, but even more by the words that had fallen from her perfect lips. I wasn’t sure how to play this. Logically, I knew I needed to let her down gently and send her on her way. But fuck, she was incredibly tempting and all fucking alone, far from the others.

  She was dressed in a button-down blouse, tucked into a flirty red skirt, and matching red cowboy boots. I dragged my eyes off of her, trying to keep myself in check. “Rose,” I started hesitantly. “I shouldn’t have said that. You should just forget it and go back to the party.”

  She sauntered into the stall, her hips swinging seductively and making me yearn to grab onto them while thrusting deep inside her. Dammit! I needed to stop letting my thoughts run in that direction. I needed to leave, put distance between us before I did something really stupid. And yet, I stood frozen, watching her through hooded eyes as she pressed herself against me and slid her arms up my chest to lock around my neck. She went up on her tiptoes and placed a soft kiss on the underside of my jaw. I fucking snapped.

  With a groan, my arms went around her, and I fisted her shirt in my hands as I lifted her up so our mouths were in line. I kissed the corner of her mouth, then licked across the seam before nibbling on her pouty bottom lips. She let out a little moan and her mouth opened slightly. I slipped my tongue inside to taste her and it was better than I’d ever imagined. And I’d imagined it...a lot.

  Her hands slid up into my hair and she held my head fi
rmly as she gave as good as she got. One hand at a time, I moved them down, under her skirt to grasp her ass and her legs were suddenly around my waist. I could feel the heat radiating from her pussy and it made me so hard the teeth of my zipper were digging painfully into my cock.

  “Damn, you feel good, baby,” I growled. “Taste like fucking heaven.”

  She mewled in response, her breathing picking up as my lips slid down to her jaw and on to her neck where I sucked and lightly bit the skin. I went back to kissing her and her legs tightened. I quickly backed us up, so she was pressed to the wooden slats of the stall.

  Using my hips to support her, I went to work on the buttons down the front of her shirt, my mouth never ceasing its assault on hers. When I’d accomplished my task, I tore myself away from her lips and looked at my handy work. I parted the sides of her shirt and sucked in a breath at the sight of her full, round tits, covered in blue lace, the same shade as her eyes. She was panting, causing them to rise and fall in the most enticing way.

  Bending my head, I licked my lips before taking one of her hard nipples in my mouth, lace and all. She cried out and ground her center into my hard-on. “You need to keep quiet, baby,” I warned her around a mouthful of her breast. I loved on both sides, then licked a trail up the center, up her neck, and to her mouth. We were far enough away that no one near the house would hear us, but I didn’t want to draw the attention of any stable hand or other employee that might walk by. That should have been discouragement enough, but I was too far gone.

  I slid a hand down her silky thigh and back up to brush a finger over her center. Her panties were fucking soaked and I groaned. Then I dipped the same digit beneath her underwear and gently pushed it into her opening. Shit. She was so wet, she dripped down, soaking my finger. I pulled it out and brought it to my mouth. Staring into her glazed eyes, I groaned as I sucked it clean.

  Rose brought her head close, moving to the side to press our cheeks together. “I’ve wanted you for so long,” she whispered in my ear. “I need you.”

  Her words sent me over the edge and I popped my finger out of my mouth, moving it to her sex once more and jerking her panties to the side. Her hands had traveled down to the waistband of my jeans and she fumbled with the button until it sprang open, then carefully lowered my zipper. She’d plunged her hand inside and palmed my dick, taking it out when I pressed my thumb to her clit. “Oh! Yes, Garrison,” she hissed, burying her face in my neck to muffle her sounds.

  Palming her ass once more, I held her in place as I lined my cock up with her pussy and drove inside. I was big, and she was so fucking tight that I didn’t get very far in. Latching onto one of her tits, I suckled and worked it with my teeth as I slowly pushed in and out, sliding deeper inside her every time.

  When I hit some resistance, my head reared back, and I stared at her in shock. She was a virgin? Son of a bitch! Not only was I not the one who should be popping her sweet cherry, but I was about to do it against a wall in a fucking barn. I stilled and opened my mouth to tell her we had to stop. The words just wouldn’t come, and I couldn’t talk myself into pulling out of her warm, wet, center.

  It didn’t help that a part of me was roaring with possession and pride, knowing that I was the first to touch her, that she was mine, only mine. It was a dangerous path I was heading down. If I kept going, I would be crossing a line I could never go back over. I knew she could never really be mine, but I wanted this, to be her first. Leaving her with a memory of me that she would never forget.

  “Please, Garrison,” she begged in a hushed voice. “Fuck me.”

  My hips had a mind of their own and they bucked suddenly, breaking through her virginity. “Shit,” I ground out through clenched teeth. Her walls were squeezing my cock, making it hard to pull back out so I could work it in farther. “So damn tight.” I worked myself in inch by inch until I was buried completely. “Fuck, baby,” I bit. “I’ve never felt anything so damn good.”

  She tugged on my earlobe before crooning, “I feel full, like you’re everywhere inside me.” Her hands were still cradling my skull, but now she clenched the strands and thrust her hips forward in a plea for me to move.

  I was powerless to resist her. Slowly at first, I pulled out a little and thrust back in. I did that a few times until my cock was so coated in her juices that I slid in and out easier. I picked up my pace and her cries made me mindless to anything but the need to make her come. Pulling out to the tip, I drove in again, bottoming out. As I moved faster and harder, I lifted her slightly higher and tilted her hips so that I went in even farther, bumping her cervix with every thrust. She clamped down on me as she spiraled toward her orgasm and it built me up faster than I wanted. “Oh fuck, Rose. Fuck! Your pussy is like a damn glove. I want you to come, baby. Come all over my cock.”

  My dirty mouth set her off and she screamed into my neck as she exploded into a thousand tiny shudders. The feel of her orgasm gripping me, pulsing around me, had me following right behind her, roaring her name as I came. Hot jets of cum spurted out, filling her with my essence. The thought of leaving a piece of myself inside her had me pressing myself tightly against her so nothing slipped out.

  Nothing slipped out...Oh, fuck.

  I pulled out, clenching my jaw at the rush of pleasure from my cock dragging against her walls. Then I righted Rose’s underwear and lowered her slowly to the ground before tucking myself back into my jeans.

  Rose’s hands and forehead were resting on my chest and her panting breaths were audible. “That was amazing, Garrison,” she mumbled into my shirt. Her head fell back, and she smiled up at me. It slipped when she saw my frown and furrowed brows. “You didn’t…”

  “No, I did. It was incredible,” I reassured her. I didn’t want her to think otherwise, even if I had to make sure it never happened again. “It’s not that.”

  She didn’t say anything, just quietly watched me. “Rose, I didn’t use a condom.” Her eyes widened, and her lips formed an O of surprise. “Please tell me you’re on birth control,” I pleaded. She shook her head and the bottom dropped out of my stomach. “Son of a bitch!” I was a fucking dead man if I’d just knocked up James’ sister. D-E-A-D. I ran my hands over my head in frustration and started to pace.

  “Garrison, don’t freak out. The chances of me getting pregnant are like two percent. And even if I did, would that be such a bad thing?” she asked.

  “Fuck, Rose. Of course it would!” I lied. To see her round with my child...I forced away the image. Her face fell, and her eyes filled with hurt. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her but...I had to end this before it went any further. “It would fuck with your plans for college and life after.” I blew out a breath, determined to go through with my good intentions, no matter how fucking hard it was. “This--this can’t happen again. You’re leaving for college tomorrow. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. I’m too fucking old for you.”

  “Shouldn’t those things be my decision? You don’t get to decide what I do with my life, Garrison,” she contested hotly, crossing her arms over her chest.

  I sighed and stuck my hands in my pockets, avoiding her gaze. “Not when it involves me, baby.” The endearment slipped out and I scowled, giving myself a silent lecture. “This should never have happened.”

  “You’re telling me we’re done?”

  This time, I looked her in the eye. “We never started. And we never will.”

  Rose’s eyes darkened with pain for a moment before they shuttered, and her face turned to stone. “Don’t bother following up with me,” she said. Her face was deadpan, but her voice was filled with anger and hatred. “I’ll let you know if I’m pregnant and if so, what I decide to do. Otherwise, stay the hell away from me.”

  She pivoted on her heel and marched out of the barn, not once looking back. I stared at her retreating figure until I couldn’t see it anymore. My chest hurt from the ache in my heart. A part of me hoped she was pregnant...then maybe I could justify keeping her. Because
I wanted her with every breath, with every beat of my heart. And, I didn’t know what the fuck I was going to do when she moved on.

  I never heard from her and the overwhelming disappointment almost crushed me.

  1

  Rose

  I’d spent most of my childhood in a city, but when I moved in with my brother, I realized I was a country girl after all. James had always been a part of my life and he never treated me like we were half-siblings. So, when I moved onto the ranch with him, he immediately made it clear that it was as much mine as his. However, as much as I loved the land and horses, I had no desire to be a part of running the ranch. I wanted to go to college and then travel the world before figuring out where I would eventually settle down.

  As hard as it was to leave James, his wife, Ophelia, and my adorable niece and nephew, I took the first step on my journey by deciding to attend Stanford University. I went home occasionally, but not often. I came up with a myriad of excuses to stay on campus, so James and his family came out to visit me a couple of times a year. I studied business because it was practical, and I had no idea what I really wanted to do with my life. Getting away was the smartest thing I’d ever done... It brought me perspective and I started to consider whether leaving Locke Creek Ranch was really what I wanted.

  After graduation, I spent the summer with friends, touring Europe. It was amazing, and I loved every minute of it. But, it only proved to me that my plans for my future weren’t what I’d always thought they would be. Ranching was in my blood and I missed working with the horses. I wanted to go home.