The Bloodline

Chapter 1, The Bloodline

Chapter 1

The numbers just weren't adding up. As Andy stared at the spreadsheet on his iMac, his eyes started to go blurry. He could just pass this off to his accountant, but he felt it was important to know every detail of his business before he contracted any work out. Right now, he was missing five more longhorns from the extensive herd he had amassed.

"Andy, do you want some tea?"

He didn't need to glance up to his wife, Laura, to know she was already bringing him some, the herbal kind he couldn't believe he actually liked. He leaned back in the dark leather chair behind his desk, neat and dust free, just the way he liked it.

"How did you know?" He took the steaming mug, breathing in the orange spice and taking a welcome sip.

Laura leaned down on the desk, resting her arms and just looking at him. She had such a soft smile, so genuine that she made him feel he could do anything. "Oh, you've been working in here for hours, holed up. Heard you swear a few times, so I knew things weren't quite working out the way you wanted." She had their baby monitor hooked to the waistband of her jeans—jeans she filled out in a way that drew every man's eye. Some women had great asses, and his wife was one of them.

She was a welcome distraction, considering there had seemed to be a constant loss of cattle over the past twelve weeks. "It'll be fine," he said. "The baby asleep?" He took another welcome sip as the warmth eased some of his frustration. So did she, the way she leaned on his desk, giving him an eyeful of her cleavage. Andy needed the distraction. He was getting worked up because someone or something was taking his cattle from him—taking what was his, what belonged to his family. Right now, someone was messing with his livelihood, and his next move would be to hire more help to find out what was happening to his sizeable herd: three hundred head of longhorns, including breeding stock and yearlings. It was the yearlings who were getting picked off.

"She went down about an hour ago," Laura said. "Sarah's so good, just like Chelsea. She's an angel, the way she sleeps on her side, her tiny little thumb in her mouth."

He didn't think he'd ever get tired of hearing everything about his children. Sarah, the baby, had been born eight weeks ago. It had been an easy birth. They'd made it to the hospital just in time, and Laura had eased through her contractions. Two hours later, Sarah had been born—an easy baby, a content baby, and the youngest of their four.

"What about the munchkins? No one's been bugging me," Andy said, not that he'd ever once considered his twins, Chelsea and Jeremy, who were just a few months shy of three, an annoyance. They were happy, healthy, full of life, radiating joy from their innocent smiles, which filled his heart so full at times he thought it would burst.

"Napping, too. Jeremy insisted he wasn't tired and argued with me up until he fell asleep, and that was before I even got Chelsea tucked in."

He reached out and skimmed his thumb over Laura's cheekbone, under her eyes. The dark circles she'd had from nursing the baby the first few weeks had disappeared, and she now had a healthy glow. Her blond hair had a natural wave it hadn't before, and it was pinned up in a messy bun that made her look gorgeous. Did she have any idea what she did to him? He doubted it. "So there's just you and me and a quiet house for..." He reached out, sliding his hand down Laura's side as she leaned on the desk beside him.

"What are you doing?" she teased as he put his tea down, and she straddled his lap, her arms linked around his neck.

He couldn't get over how well she fit him, how she moved against him, a touch, a breath. Giving herself to him was a gift he had once taken for granted. What a fool he'd been. Never again would he disrespect Laura or be ungrateful for all she had given him: his children, her love, herself. "Touching my wife," he said. Maybe it was arrogant and selfish, but he could only hold himself back from loving Laura for so long. He'd been patient for months during her late pregnancy and after, and he was making up for lost time, needing to bury himself in her heat, in her love, and connect with her.

He ran his large hand down her stomach, which still had a slight bulge from where she'd carried his children. It was a miracle how his seed had created the lives that filled this house, making it a home. His family.

Her breath hissed, and he could feel the way she trembled as he ran his hand up and over both her generous breasts, which fed his baby girl. His other hand followed as he shoved his fingers in her hair, pulling it loose, pulling her down so he could taste those full, kissable red lips.

Her eyes...the green had become brighter, he swore, over the past year. For a woman so young, she had carried a lifetime of living, of hurt, of love. It was in her expression, the shadow of her eyes, always there, and those memories were the first place she went whenever something bad happened. Then she'd stop and take a breath. He saw it time and again, thankful it was happening less as the days passed and she was starting to believe that Andy would always protect her and keep everything bad from touching her and the children. If something happened, he wanted her first thought to be free of worry, knowing she was safe, believing he'd protect her and their family.

She leaned in to his touch, and she didn't have to say a word for him to know she trusted him, giving herself to him so freely to touch, to caress, to taste, and to be with whenever he needed her. She was so damn responsive to him, and he didn't think he'd ever have enough of his woman.

He kissed her neck as his hands slid under her light T-shirt, lifting it over her head and tossing it to the floor. His other hand slid up her back, over the soft skin and up her spine, and again she pressed closer to him, her hands gripping his shoulders tighter. She gasped as he unclasped her bra and divested her of it, and he stood up and laid her on her back against the glass top of his desk. She was so bewitching as he pulled away and slid her zipper down, pulling off her jeans and socks until she was naked on his desk, and then he just studied her for a second, every inch of her creamy white skin: the tiny marks across her almost flat stomach, her breasts, which had always been a generous handful but had grown a cup during her pregnancy. They were firm and large, and he savored the moments he could run his tongue over her nipples and kiss and touch every inch of her after he made love to her over and over, marking her so she knew she belonged to him. He could be gentle and rough, hurried and slow, but every time he came in her it was with her coming around him. It was a connection so strong, so powerful, and one he had never expected.

"Are you going to just stare at me, or are you going to have your way with me before the kids wake?" She raised her arms above her head and spread her legs so he could see all of her.

He said nothing as he unzipped his jeans, freeing his erection. Laura wiggled on the desk as her face flushed, maybe anticipating how he'd take her.

As he ran his hand up her thigh and then spread her wider, he took her deep and hard, forcing another squeak from her lips as he moved the way he knew she loved. Being together was instinctual as she wrapped her legs around his waist and ran her hands up his chest, clutching his shoulders and hanging on while Andy made love to her, drawing out just enough that he could send her over the edge and have her scream out his name as he filled her over and over.