Cocked and Loaded: A Billionaire Romance (Small Town Bad Boys Book 4) Read online

  Oh, baby. You've already got me burning up.

  I grinned, although I was unsure why I was enjoying myself so much. Maybe because she hated my guts and I took pleasure in proving people wrong about me.

  But it might have also had to do with the blush that crept up her neck when she saw me or the way her chocolate brown eyes dilated. Her banging body wanted me even if her mind didn't. I had to give her props for trying to rise above her instincts.

  I stepped closer until I was completely under the canopy of her tent and only the table of produce separated us. When I leaned forward just slightly, she didn't back away. Rather she jutted her chin out, challenging me.

  "I can handle all kinds of heat, Pepper," I said in a voice so low, she had to lean in to hear me.

  She rolled her eyes and turned away but my words had their intended effect. Her blush deepened and she licked her lips nervously as she tried to appear distracted and busy. But I was the only one at her stall.

  "Look, if you're not gonna buy anything you can just move along," she said as she rearranged apricots in a wooden crate.

  "I do want to buy something."

  She narrowed her eyes at me as she shook out a plastic bag.

  "Well, what would you like?"

  "I already told you," I said with a smirk. "The land."

  Her glare returned as she balled the bag up into her fist.

  "And I already told you it's not for sale."

  "Why not? You're not using it for crops."

  "I might in the future," she shot back. "Not that it's any of your business. It's mine. I don't need a reason."

  "We'll build a fence between your orchard and the development," I promised. "No hooligans will be wandering through your property and stealing your products."

  "Way to miss the point," she huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I think we're done here."

  My smile dropped. She was stubborn as a bull and getting really irritated. If I kept pushing she might throw a handful of those peppers into my eyes. The hard sell wasn't working so I had to switch up my strategy.

  "Listen, Pepper," I said, looking at her seriously. "I'm not your enemy. I'm not trying to steamroll over your livelihood. This is just the way things are going." I attempted a smile. "We're going to be neighbors one way or another. So can we try to get along?"

  "No," she said sharply.

  Damn, this girl really was a hard sell.

  "Be someone else's neighbor. I don't want some hipster development going up near my farm."

  "Well then," I wrung my hands and gave her a pained expression. "You should have come to the city hall meetings and voiced your opinion. This has been in planning for a year. It didn't just pop up out of nowhere."

  “Do I look like I have time to go to city hall meetings?” she demanded.

  I cocked an eyebrow as the curious thought from yesterday returned to me.

  “Are you seriously running that place all by yourself?” I asked. “I mean, do you get any help?”

  “Yes, of course I have help,” she huffed defensively, eyes darting over my shoulder. “Here’s my help coming now.”

  I turned around to see a pretty, blue-eyed blonde approaching with two coffee cups in her hand.

  “Sorry I took so long, Pepper. The coffee shop had a line going out the door,” she said cheerily, setting the cups down next to a crate of cherries.

  “Maddy, watch the stall, please. I’m going to the ladies room.”

  “Oh, okay!”

  Pepper took off without a second glance at me, the breeze blowing her dark hair around her face like a luxurious plume of smoke.

  I watched her drift away as if the wind carried her, my curiosity only piqued even more with her insistence to push me away.

  Was this really just about the land? Did that warrant her hostility and attitude, as sexy as it may have been?

  Of course not. I knew it wasn’t. The whole town knew when and where we were coming. Plans had been drawn. Engineers and architects had been hired. The press covered this development for months. It wasn’t my fault she had her head in the sand and got all pissy when something happened while she wasn’t paying attention.

  She had to realize that. She was a grown-ass woman.

  So why did she seem to be holding this against me personally?

  “Can I help you find anything, sir?” asked the cheerful blonde who took Pepper’s place.

  She was like a blinding ray of sunlight with her wide smile and chirpiness. I much preferred Pepper’s darkness. I wanted to search through that darkness like an explorer and discover the unknown.

  “I think I struck a nerve with your boss,” I told her a bit sheepishly.

  “Oh, don’t worry about Pepper,” she replied. “She’s just stressed. The farm is a lot of work, especially right now at peak season.”

  “Yeah, about that.” I scratched the stubble on my chin pensively. “Are you her only help on that huge place? Does she have anyone else?”

  “Well, it’s seasonal work so she pays per day,” she explained. “Not a whole lot of people want to work out in the sun for extra cash right now, except me and some friends. Everyone else would rather drive for Uber or something.”

  I nodded thoughtfully, wondering how I could use this knowledge to my advantage when another customer approached the stall.

  Instinctively, I bristled when he came near. Something about him just turned on my defensive instinct like when I was a young punk running around the streets of Oakland. He didn’t look like your typical small country town resident.

  This guy was broad and strong, almost as well built as me and covered in tattoos from his knuckles to his neck. The little girl who held his hand, mugged me with a glare not unlike Pepper did.

  “How are you, Maddy?” he asked with a charming, boyish grin. “The Missus sent me for apricots. And let me get a couple of those ghost chilis too.”

  “Sure thing, Sol!” If this gangbanger-looking guy set off any alarm bells in Maddy’s head she didn’t show it. She held out a cherry to the little girl that was with him. “How’s school, Ari? Almost done?”

  The girl nodded as she happily popped the cherry into her mouth and started chewing.

  “Remember to spit out the pit,” the tattooed man told her sternly. Then proudly to Maddy, “She’s got straight-As again. I can’t thank you enough for your tutoring her.”

  “That’s great!” Maddy held her hand out for the girl to high-five. “Way to go, Ari!”

  The tattooed man noticed me watching their interactions and I’m sure he bristled with the same kind of defensiveness as I did. This guy looked like trouble, even if he didn’t seem like it to anyone but me.

  “How you doin’ man,” he said cautiously as he placed a protective hand on his daughter’s shoulder and held the other one out to me. “I’m Solomon. Welcome to Cloverville.”

  “Reagan,” I said, accepting his hand. “I guess I’m new here. My company is building the new development just outside of town.”

  “Ah, right on.”

  Solomon relaxed but didn’t seem especially interested in talking to me. He leaned across the table as he accepted the produce from Maddy and said in a low whisper, “Hey, is Pepper around?”

  I picked up a watermelon and pretended to inspect it thoroughly as I listened hard. What the hell did this guy want with the hot, angry farmer of Cloverville?

  A better question was, why did I give a shit?

  “She just took off to take a break,” Maddy said apologetically. “I’ll tell her you stopped by?”

  “Please do,” he said as he handed cash over for the produce. “Let her know I’ll be calling her, if you would.”

  “Sure thing!” Maddy smiled sunnily. “Have a good day, Sol! Bye Ari!”

  “What was that about?” I demanded as soon as Solomon was out of earshot.

  I knew full well it was none of my goddamn business but something in me wanted to protect Pepper. And this guy gave me a bad feeling.
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  Maddy just shrugged. “He runs his family’s wine cellar here, so Pepper is probably hooking him up with some grape starters. I don’t know, though. Everybody knows each other here and we all work together in some way.”

  She didn’t know it but she gave me a great idea. One that would not only allow my development to continue with Pepper’s good graces, but maybe even shed some light on that darkness inside her.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  PEPPER

  I stayed away from the stall until Reagan finally left.

  I hated leaving Maddy alone but fuck, I couldn't stand just talking to him and being around him. It felt incredibly weird, like some kind of limbo between magnetic attraction and utter revulsion.

  He made my heart and my body go to war at each other. I hated how he just dropped into my life and tried to steamroll over me like my four generations of farmland meant nothing. He was making everything about money and trying to ensure he got a deal that would put him on top. If I gave an inch he would surely take a mile.

  But when I watched his full, smirking lips move as he talked, I felt my own lips tingle in response. From the coffee shop, I watched his hands caress over the watermelons which sparked an image of those hands wandering over my own curves.

  I shook the image from my head as I packed up the truck with the last of my unsold produce while the market wound down to its end.

  It had been years since I'd been with a guy. Since high school, really. Ever since graduation, I was just too busy with taking care of the farm and Dad as his cancer came back.

  Not that I had a ton of experience anyway. It didn't take long for me to figure out that most guys liked petite, delicate women. Not tall and strong farm workers like me.

  A guy like Reagan probably had armfuls of perfect tens at his every beck and call. He was only trying to charm me to get his greedy hands on my land. With one look, he could probably tell that I didn't get attention from guys often and sought to exploit that.

  Too bad, Reagan. I'm not falling for it. No matter how often you pop out of thin air and bug me.

  So what if he happened to produce pheromones that spoke directly to my brain chemistry, an incredible body and green eyes that made my heart skip a beat? He was probably just as selfish in bed as he was in every other way.

  I drove home from the market repeating all these justifications in my head, trying as hard as I could to make myself not attracted to Reagan but it didn't seem to work.

  The day was still young by the time the market was over but I still had a long day ahead of me. Leonard's, our local supermarket, would be picking up an order from me tomorrow that I had to prepare. Dahlia would also be picking up herbs and sunflowers for her flower shop.

  The work never stopped.

  Somewhere in between unloading my truck and stacking crates of tomatoes, peppers, and cherries, I felt an awful twinge in my back. Still, I couldn’t stop until I was done.

  The sky was a deep purple and the sun had dipped below the hills when I finally closed the door to the walk-in refrigerator and headed for the house.

  At some point, someone needs to open a yoga studio or chiropractor’s office downtown, I thought, stretching and twisting my back as much as I dared.

  Until that point, I did have something that would do the trick in the meantime.

  I opened the fridge and took out one of the two Tupperware containers. One was mine. The other was for Solomon, who I just missed at the farmer’s market today thanks to Reagan screwing everything up.

  I pulled open the lid on the container to reveal a grid of brownies cut into perfect one-inch squares. My latest creations and my best work to date, in my own humble opinion.

  I popped one brownie into my mouth and chewed slowly before washing it down with a glass of water. After brushing my teeth and getting undressed for bed, I laid down, spread out like a starfish and closed my eyes.

  It would take an hour or so for the effects to take place, but I tried to relax and mentally melt the day away.

  Just before I drifted off to sleep, I felt the telling tingling in my fingers and toes and deep relaxation of my muscles. A smile came to my lips as a wave of euphoria drifted over me like a gentle ocean wave lapping at my body.

  My bed became a pillowy soft cloud supporting me. All the soreness and stiffness in my muscles seemed to untie their knots and give me sweet relief.

  Something was different this time though.

  Goosebumps raised on the surface of my skin despite the warm, late spring night. Every inch of me felt especially sensitive. My hair tickling under my ear and the back of my neck almost felt like fingertips. My nipples stiffened into tight, pointed little buds under the sheet and they yearned for more sensation. Some pressure or even a little bit of pain.

  A dull ache pulsed between my legs and I spread them wide for some relief. But that only made my body crave something more between them. Something hard and big to penetrate through my softness, to fill this hollow emptiness I suddenly felt.

  My skin yearned for weight on top of me, for teeth and hands to fire off my nerves that ached for touch.

  I drifted my hands down along my body but it wasn't enough. The need for contact was overwhelming. I never felt this horny after an edible before and I found myself incredibly frustrated. I'd gone years without needing to be physically touched by a man and now it felt like I couldn't breathe without it.

  My hand slid further down to cup my pussy, dying to relieve that building sensitivity and pressure. My entire vulva was soaked, my tender flesh swollen and eager.

  An image of Reagan flashed through my mind and I found myself gasping. My body responded immediately, grinding my clit into my hand while the other flew up to pinch my nipple.

  The orgasm came fast and shuddered through me. I writhed on the bed like a demon was escaping my body. My pulse pounded in my ears and I felt so incredibly sensitive all over like my flesh had been stripped away and my nerves were exposed.

  I never felt like that before. As my breathing steadied and relaxation came over me again, I told myself it had to be the THC in the brownie.

  I flopped over onto my stomach and half moaned, half sighed into my pillow.

  Who was I kidding?

  My body never felt this way until Reagan Sells walked into my life.

  CHAPTER SIX

  PEPPER

  Reagan's green eyes burned into mine with an intense fire that melted me to my very core.

  "Pepper..."

  His deep, husky voice went directly to my brain and traveled over my skin.

  Then his mouth was on mine, his tongue invading my lips as large, firm hands palmed my breasts and held tightly around my waist.

  So hot. So much heat. So much touch and sensation. I was drowning in him.

  And then a thick, heavy rod between my legs made me gasp. It was so hard it felt like a steel beam trying to split me apart. He pushed inside me and I screamed but there was no pain.

  Only the sweetest, stretching pleasure so intense that it barely skirted the line of pain. My scalp tingled as his fingers wound through my hair and tugged slightly. He filled me to the brim and emptied me completely with deep, rolling thrusts of his powerful hips.

  I came with his massive cock fucking me with abandon and his moans of my name in my ear.

  And then I was falling.

  "Fuck! Shit!"

  I landed hard on the floor next to my bed, tangled up so tightly in my sheets that I was certain I looked like a mummy.

  My heart hammered like a drum in my chest as I fully woke and got my bearings.

  My body was burning up and I was slick with sweat. My breathing came out in short, labored gasps. I definitely had an orgasm in my sleep.

  While having the most vivid, hottest dreams of him.

  Slowly I touched my fingertips to my lips, my breasts and my waist.

  It was so real. I felt the pressure and heat of his kisses, the tight, possessive grip of his hands on me.

  The THC i
n the brownie really must have amplified my libido and brought to the surface my desire for that man when I tried to suppress it.

  As I untangled myself from the sheets I noticed the sunlight pouring through the windows.

  Goddamnit. If the sun was already up, I had overslept and would be getting a late start to the day.

  I threw clothes on frantically and tossed my hair up into a messy bun. Only then did I realize how quiet the house was.

  "Bonny?" I called. She never came into my bedroom like she usually did.

  I tried whistling and still no sign of her.

  I padded barefoot into the kitchen, trying not to worry about her. Since I got up late, she might have already gone outside through the doggy door. I just hoped she didn't let herself out at night while a coyote or mountain lion could get her.

  "Hey, Bon-bon!" I called as I pushed the front door open and stepped out onto the porch. The sun, already high in the sky, hit me with a wave of hot air that filled me with dread. It was going to be a long, hard day.

  "Bon-bon! Here, girl!"

  "That's a cute nickname."

  "Fuck!"

  The voice startled me out of my skin and I jumped three feet into the air.

  Sitting on the bench just outside my front door, relaxing and smirking, was none other than Reagan fucking Sells.

  My body temperature shot up and I knew my face was beet red. Hell yes, I was embarrassed, but not for any reasons that he knew about.

  Or did he? In the last three days, he never failed to pop up everywhere. Even in my dreams. Just a few minutes ago I could've sworn his cock was rutting in and out of me, fucking me to the best orgasm I'd ever had.

  Now here he was in the flesh, although I had to blink and rub my eyes to make sure.

  Gone was the crisp, tailored suit. Instead, he wore jeans, stylish desert boots, and a breezy, light blue linen shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows and unbuttoned halfway down. I felt like a pervert ogling the exposed skin on his strong, sculpted chest. The shirt still hugged his form as though custom-tailored to fit him, which it probably was.

  Just from my dumbfounded staring, I could already tell that my dreams did not do him justice. His body was so much harder and well-built than my imagination ever could have attempted.