As a matter of fact, the cowgirl was the one who’d met her match. After all, I was a dangerous man, one used to getting exactly what I wanted, whether or not the other party agreed. And I wanted her.
Soon, her voluptuous body would be writhing under mine, my cock thrusting in and out savagely. Her mouth. Her pussy. Her asshole. As often as I craved.
She would surrender.
She would obey.
Then she would belong to me.
Chapter 2
Mustang
“What the hell happened to the happy-go-lucky guy we all used to know?”
Hawk’s question hadn’t bothered me until now. The carnal need building deep within me was unexpected, creating the kind of hunger I’d never felt before. While I’d originally thought the answer as well as the strong emotion remained in the darkest pits of Afghanistan, along with my joy of life, something had just snapped within me.
Maybe my desire was an attempt to mask the continued rage that threatened to eat me alive. Whatever the case, right now I remained electrified. There was no doubt the sexy woman was going to get herself in trouble. What was she was searching for?
“Mustang. You should go and take another look at the herd.”
I shot Tanner a nasty look before returning my attention back in her direction. A gnawing in my gut continued as I watched as she headed to the other side of the auditorium, noticing as a man followed her, keeping just enough distance that she likely wouldn’t pay attention. She certainly had ruffled some feathers. I sauntered back in his direction. “There’s something strange about that gal being here.”
“Yeah, well, today ain’t the time for that. Keep your eyes on the ball, Mustang. We’ve got a little while to wait before you can place your bid. You know the price Hawk is willing to go,” Tanner said before following my gaze. “We need to get the lot in question. That’ll really help increase the herd at the ranch. Hawk thinks we can get them for a good price. Check them out one more time to make certain they’re good quality but do so nonchalantly.”
Hawk had been insistent on both of us coming to the auction, mentioning he’d been tipped off by a phone call. While Hawk and I had been planning on increasing the number of steer for some time, his decision seemed to come out of the blue.
I gazed at the ranch foreman and exhaled. Tanner had been assigned to provide assistance during this particular buy. In other words, Hawk had wanted to make certain I knew what the fuck I was doing. Hell, I couldn’t blame my buddy. He’d waited for a couple of months before pushing me into taking over the purchase and acclimation of additional livestock. Times were still tough, money spent wisely, but slowly Big Meadow was becoming a respected name in ranching.
“Come to work with me,” Jake ‘Hawk’ Travers had asked barely a day after arriving home from Afghanistan. Hell, I’d known him since I was still wet behind the ears, another homegrown from Missoula. “I need someone I can trust,” he’d added. “You’re my best friend and the only one I want to share the business with.”
I’d accepted without question. There was no reason to return overseas, the contract job I’d once revered stripped away, as it had been from all of us. Only two of our motley group of five buddies remained overseas, both Reaper and Vader finishing out their respective contracts. We were all attempting to deal with our grief in different ways.
For me, it was all about guilt.
“A mission that should’ve never happened,” the group of us had been told.
“You’re the reason several good soldiers were lost,” the major general had said more than once.
One by one, we’d been ceremoniously dismissed from our commissions. Five friends. Five Marines. Five bad boy cowboys.
Once there had been six, all of us willing to die for the other.
Then there’d been tragedy.
Anger remained from the way the assholes in charge had handled the situation, my soul still aching at the loss of a man who’d been a friend, a fellow soldier, and someone I’d looked up to. I remained bitter, furious that a group of proud and honorable men had been labeled traitors by several higher ranking Marines. Fuck them. They had no idea what had occurred on that dark and wretched night or the suffering we’d all endured.
I’d never forget the first day I’d arrived back in Montana, the