Into His Keeping Read online

  “I need to check the car. I heard a sound outta the brakes,” Drifter supplied as his long gate took him down the hall to the stairs.

  Both of them descended as Holdin asked, “Think the pads are goin’?”

  “Yeah, maybe. Not sure. The guy in your equipment garage said I could use the hydraulic this morning.” Drifter glanced at his father. “Got a problem? I’m not taking your mechanic’s time. I’ll do the work myself.”

  “Course not. Mind if I look too? The Taurus ‘bout seven years old?”

  “Eight. Look at it if you want. I don’t need any help.” Drifter jammed his hands into his pockets as they headed for the back of the house where the kitchen door was the shortest route to the garages.

  In the kitchen, Holdin dropped his shoes and socks by the table and detoured to open the fridge. “Want something?”

  “Whatcha have?” A little of Drifter’s defensiveness fell away as he peered into the fridge behind Holdin.

  “I’m getting orange juice.” Holdin grabbed it and stepped away from the open door. “Get whatever you want.”

  Drifter stood there a moment looking at the contents and then flipped the door shut. “I’ll have a glass too.” Holdin was already getting two glasses from the cabinet.

  “Not hungry?”

  “Naw. I’ll have something when Mom gets up.”

  Holdin brought the glasses and juice to the table and sat to put on his shoes and socks. The move encouraged Drifter to participate by pouring the drinks. If they both were involved in some activity together, Holdin figured it wouldn’t feel as if he were infringing on Drifter’s space.

  Drifter drained a tall glass and put the orange juice jug away after he’d shoved the other glass across the table to Holdin.

  “You keeping track of her diet?” Holdin asked around his orange juice.

  Drifter shrugged. “She likes coffee and caffeine is on the ‘No’ list.”

  “There’s a list? The doctor gave her a diet plan?” Holdin asked as they left the kitchen through the mudroom and stepped out into the damp morning air.

  “Yeah.”

  “She doesn’t stick to it?”

  “Doesn’t like it.”

  “So? It’s good for her.” Holdin scowled. “How often does she go off it?”

  “None.” Drifter answered as he glanced around the large yard and outbuildings.

  “Then why’re you worried?”

  “She forgets things. I just make sure. I gotta drive the car around to the garage. Since you’re here, you could open the door for me.” Drifter pulled the car keys out of his pocket, turned away to lope around to the front of the house where Jill had parked.

  Holdin watched him, frowning. What had that been about? Was the boy afraid he wouldn’t let him drive the car around to the garage? Not likely, Holdin had been driving equipment around the ranch when they visited from the time he could reach the pedals. Or was Drifter embarrassed about admitting he kept an eye on his mother? Another thing Holdin had no problem with.

  Holdin shook his head and took off at a jog to make it across the nearly three acres of lawn to the garage before Drifter got there with the car. Entering the equipment garage, he activated the electric door. Drifter backed the car onto the lift skids as if he’d been doing it for years. Jumping out, the boy adjusted the fit and operated the hydraulic lift with an obvious knowledge of its workings. Holdin stood back as the car went up. He didn’t offer assistance because he suspected Drifter needed to prove he could do this.

  Being a father was a huge mystery but Holdin figured he knew how to be a friend. That had to be the place they started. He knew for a fact Drifter had no idea how to be a son, so both of them were SOL on that one.

  Working in silence, they removed the front passenger side wheel to have a look at the brake pads. Holdin took the stance of assistant as if he’d seen Drifter do this a thousand times and had no doubt he could do it well. The dark clouds whirling around the teen’s head seemed to dissipate when he realized Holdin really wasn’t going to start trying to instruct him on how to do the job.

  * * * * *

  Jill was groggily aware of the door softly closing behind Holdin as she hugged the pillow and sank back into the lovely dream she’d been having. She’d heard Drifter’s voice and that made her smile softly as she faded back to the past. She knew it was a dream and reached for it.

  Eighteen again, she was at the movies with Holdin and several of his friends the first Friday night after her father and she had moved to Connersville. Her dad had been amazed she had a date already. He was exhausted from his first week of work at the factory. He was genuinely pleased she was making a new group of friends. It meant she was integrating into her surroundings, not sitting home alone feeling lonely and all “new girl”.

  The cool, late winter night enveloped Jill in loving arms as the present receded and she was sitting in the dark theater beside Holdin. Their shoulders were touching and tingles raced down her body at the contact that wasn’t as casual as they hoped it appeared. First date and surrounded by others, it had been safe and exciting all at the same time. The shadowy dreamscape morphed him and her to a few months later to a warm loft over the foaling barn on Holdin’s parents’ ranch.

  A private picnic evolved into hours of Holdin showing Jill how high he could make her fly. On this day, he’d stripped her clothes off in a long, languorous make-out session. His mouth ate her taste into him, loving her, drawing her soul into the shadowy loft as he growled his passion. When he was like this, she knew it’d be hours of progressively intense demands from her lover.

  In the foggy dream reality, the memory poured over her, bathing her body in the fire Holdin had demanded of her that long-ago afternoon. Stretched out on the blanket, her body was his instrument and the more intense he became, the more finely tuned she became.

  One large hand was molding her breast exactly how she loved to be touched. He could cup her, pressing down in slow circles as thumb and forefinger rolled a plump nipple in relentless rhythm. It was heavenly and maddening. His deep, slow kisses combined with that touch were driving her crazy.

  He’d completely undressed her but only his shirt and shoes were off and her hands fumbled to reach his belt buckle. He caught them and drew them over her head, trapping them in one of his hands.

  “No, baby,” he growled, lifting his head from her swollen lips to look down at her. “Not yet.” His breathing was ragged as he lifted his head farther to survey his prize.

  “Damn!” Holdin murmured reverently as his gaze traveled over her body with arms restrained. Jill’s delicious hips were gently rocking in invitation, the slick evidence of her pleasure glistening on her thighs as she rubbed them together, trying to give herself some relief since he hadn’t touched her there yet.

  Jill moaned, all she could manage was a plea. “More. I need it.”

  “It’s comin’, baby. Stay just like that, don’t move.” He released her hands and abruptly pulled his tube socks off. “Do you trust me?” he asked softly.

  “Yes,” Jill whispered back as she lay stretched out under his eyes. He stared at her a long moment without moving. Her body was burning with need. She arched her back slowly, setting the soft mounds of her breasts shuddering, and drew her legs apart for him. His body jerked in reaction to her visual tease as she knew it would. Her smile was a naughty moue.

  Holdin leaned his face down to her ear. “I told you not to move, my wicked little wildcat. Now I’m going to see that you understand me.” He sat up slowly and held up one of his long tube socks so she could see it then reached up and swiftly used it to bind her wrists together.

  Jill gasped and he looked directly into her eyes as she heard a clink and click above her head and then she couldn’t tug her restrained arms down. His fingers were trailing down the soft skin of her arms as she tried to twist her head up and see what he’d done.

  “What?”

  “Shhhh, Jilly-girl. Do you know how beautiful you are?” His f
ingers teased down the tender skin of her underarms, down to cup the full breasts. His thumbs both gently circling swollen nipples but not giving her the harder caress she wanted.

  “But what…” Jill gasped.

  “Do you trust me?” he interrupted again, not taking his eyes off her breasts this time as he teased them.

  “Yes.” Jill relaxed and stopped trying to look up at what he’d done to her wrists. His attention to her sensitive breasts was too distracting to worry about her hands.

  He leaned down and lightly licked one plump nipple, carefully painting it with damp attention that wasn’t the hard touch she was beginning to crave. He blew across his glistening prize and watched it distend farther for him before he glanced up into her eyes again.

  “Are you uncomfortable? In pain? Is the position a problem for those reasons?” he questioned her in a firm voice that sort of startled her.

  “No.”

  “Then this is the trust I need from you now,” he continued as his knuckles grazed her soft belly in a circling pattern that was almost a feather touch to her sensitive skin. “If anything scares you, all you have to say is stop. You know that, Jilly-girl.”

  She nodded, her entire body beginning to tremble in excitement as she realized his intentions. Her legs were once again pressed together, rubbing in a vain attempt to create some friction for her needy pussy. Her hips continued to roll slightly as she squirmed. His large hand opened on her belly. He nearly spanned her from hipbone to hipbone, pressing her down and holding her still.

  Jill started panting. His strength was always a turn-on, but this type of control was new. Something about it was amazingly hot. She wasn’t afraid of him, she couldn’t be. This was her Holdin and he always took care of her.

  “Are you mine?” he asked her mysteriously as he began petting her belly.

  “Yesss,” she hissed, his fingers grazed the top of her damp curls and maddingly circled up again instead of sinking into where she needed them.

  “You know I love you,” he continued. He was kneeling beside her, his gaze on his own hand as he caressed her. “I’d never hurt you, never. Let me show you how much, baby. Give me your trust.”

  “Yes, please! Now!” Jill encouraged him as he just sat there watching his hand on her belly.

  “Spread your legs, baby,” he commanded softly. “Show me how much you want me.”

  Jill’s legs V’d apart. “Wider,” he insisted, and she extended them as far as they would go, digging her heels into the soft blanket beneath them to lift her hips up for his touch.

  “No, baby. Put that sweet ass back on the blanket.” His tone was firm again. “Turn your heels in and lay your legs open for me.”

  She did what he told her, laying herself open for him as she’d never been before. Soft lighting glistened on damp inner thighs, sparkling curls and the swollen folds of her most private flesh exposed to his view, at his command. Jill felt her body tighten in an unbelievable mix of embarrassment and excitement. It wasn’t as if he’d never seen her before. His mouth had investigated every inch of her many, many times. But this was different and more intensely erotic than she’d ever experienced before.

  “Yes, just like that,” he approved. “That’s my good girl. Do you want me, Jilly-girl? Tell me. I need to hear it. I won’t touch you unless you ask me to. You have to understand you’re not helpless like this, just so stunningly beautiful. God! You’re so beautiful.” His voice had gone reverent at the end.

  “Holdin!” Jill moaned urgently. “I need you. Don’t make me think. You know I love you. Please, please, touch me.”

  “Like this?” he asked as his fingers sank down to tunnel into the honey curls surrounding her sex.

  “Yes! More,” she demanded as he just stopped with his middle finger resting on the nub of her clit, the two fingers beside it curling down the length of her flushed outer lips.

  “Tell me, baby. Tell me what you want,” he insisted.

  “No. I can’t think. Just take me. I need so bad.” Jill was desperate. The drive for release almost painful as her body burned for him.

  “Are you asking me to take control? Are you giving me this body, Jilly-girl?”

  “Yes! Please!” she begged helplessly.

  “Say it, baby. Tell me what’s mine. Only mine. Give me this sweet body,” he insisted softly.

  “Only yours,” she panted, “Always. You know that.”

  “Mine!” breathed out of his mouth as his lips descended to the nearest nipple and his fingers spread her pussy lips and tormented her clit.

  The explosion of sensation pushed a wail out of Jill as he took possession of her. His mouth sucked her nipple deep and hard. The hand on her pussy held her open in a fashion that was shocking even though no one could see her as his middle finger manipulated her clit. Jill wanted to scream but somehow she couldn’t.

  All she could manage were muffled moans as she endured pleasure that was torment. Then suddenly there was loud, pounding thunder.

  No. Not thunder. Pounding. Where?

  Jill jackknifed up in bed as her door opened and she stared at the face in it blankly. Still wrapped in the dream she was panting, her face flushed and her pulse skittering in alarm as the long-ago afternoon faded away.

  Two faces in her doorway. Confusion and concern on them.

  “Mom, you ‘kay?” Drifter asked in concern. “You were moaning. Is there pain? Do I need to call Dr. Coates? You’re flushed too and not breathing right.”

  “No, ah, no, I’m…” Her eyes flicked up to the worried man standing behind her son and heat flashed across her body. She knew the blush painted her guilty and trembling hands tried to hide her cheeks as she looked at Drifter again.

  “No, really. Just a dream.” She gulped back a moan when she realized the man behind Drifter smiled slowly at that confession. His eyes had always seen every detail, every nuance of her expressions, mannerisms. At one time he could simply glance at her and read her body. He wore that look now and he was right. She didn’t like it.

  “But you’re trembling.” Drifter’s brow wrinkled in concern as he stepped farther into her room.

  Behind him Holdin’s eyes changed, the lids became heavy as his gaze dropped and Jill realized she was sitting up with the covers at her waist. Her thin nightshirt did nothing to disguise heavy breasts and the sharp outline of swollen nipples. Jill grabbed the sheet and clutched it up to her neck.

  “I just woke up. I’m fine,” she insisted. “Now shoo. I need to get up.” Her voice wasn’t as firm as she’d like it to be but she needed to get rid of these two.

  “But…” Drifter started, still concerned.

  “It’s okay, son. Your mother was startled when we knocked,” Holdin injected smoothly, a hand resting on Drifter’s shoulder to pull him back out of the room. “Let’s give her some privacy to wake up.”

  “I don’t like this place,” Drifter argued as he frowned back at Holdin. “It’s too big. I can’t hear her if she falls.”

  “I’m not going to fall. Stop worrying,” Jill insisted. “There’s no pain, hon. No headache. It was just a dream. I’ll see you downstairs in a few minutes.”

  “My room is right next to hers. Remember?” Holdin added. “I’ll hear her if she falls. Come on.”

  “But…? Are you sure?” Drifter asked again, worried as he searched her glowing face. He ignored Holdin’s hand on him, looking to Jill for confirmation.

  “Yes, yes. Go on.” Jill avoided looking at Holdin. “I’ll be down in forty-five minutes.”

  “Take an hour if you need it.” Holdin grinned at her over Drifter’s head as the boy backed out. “Breakfast can wait ‘til you’re ready.” His eyes twinkled and he let them drift down again to where her legs were clamped tightly together. “As I recall, sometimes you needed a little extra time to,” he paused and looked into her eyes again, “be ready,” he finished the awkward sentence that had nothing to do with breakfast.

  As Drifter turned, Jill mouthed “Beast” t
o Holdin.

  Holdin held the door handle and leaned in so only his head was in the room and their son behind him. “Sexy beast,” he corrected softly, and pulled the door shut.

  Jill slowly sank back into her pillow and resisted the urge to groan loudly. Her body was damp with sweat and need. It trembled with the power of that distant afternoon and now she had to get up and face Holdin’s family. Thank God, her son didn’t know the signs like his father did.

  She’d just resigned herself to a cold shower and was sitting on the edge of the bed when the phone rang beside her on the nightstand. Frowning at it, she wondered if it was a ranch phone. It didn’t seem logical that Holdin would have his guestrooms wired with the public number.