Branded (13 page)

Inhaling sharply, she waited for
the sting of his bite, only it didn’t come.

“Hey, I’m back and you’re not going
to believe all the cool stuff I found in Bozeman. There was a
cu-ute—oh, sorry, um, I’ll leave.” Molly was setting a stack of
boxes on the table by their clasped hands when she noticed them.
Sakura was ready to thank her friend for leaving them to get on
with things with Matt, only he beat her to the punch.

“No, don’t go, Molly. I came in for
another handheld and got carried away with Sakura,” he said while
laughing. He buttoned her shirt and helped her to sit up before
going over to the stand holding the charging devices. After
dropping the fiercest kiss on her lips she knew threw sparks, he
walked to the door. She wanted to melt and yet couldn’t.

“See you ladies at dinner tonight.”
He grinned and waved goodbye.

The door clicked and Sakura slumped
against the wall. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, but her
pussy was telling her exactly what she missed. She was sure he was
seconds away from gifting her with his delicious cock, driving it
in and out of her slick opening until she screamed with
gratification. Oh, man, what she wouldn’t give for a chance to
seduce him again.

Rules or not, she wouldn’t have
said no, that’s for sure.

“I’m sorry, Saki. Oh, dear, you’re
shaking,” her friend discovered as she wrapped her in a
hug.

“Matt got to me, bad. The minute he
walked in here I was lost. Shoot, I forgot all about my own request
to keep things out of the workplace. I’m the one who started it
all. A quickie, at the most, was all I expected. Instead of a
screaming orgasm, I was treated to the most intense five minutes
and left hanging. I guess it’s my due for breaking my own request.”
Her body screamed for satisfaction.

Finally she accepted only those two
men or her hand would ease her needs.

“I should’ve taken longer,” Molly
laughed lightly as she joined her friend on the table.

“It wouldn’t have been nearly long
enough.” Sakura snorted and sat up straight. “Don’t worry about it.
When I finally get together with these guys, it’s going to be
special and take days and days to ease our passion.”

“Days and days? Do you think they
have the stamina?”

Sakura laughed. She put her hands
on her knees, rubbing them up and down, trying desperately to
ignore the need still controlling her body. There would be no
gratification until the time was right, and apparently it hadn’t
been between her and Matt. She wanted it to happen immediately,
desperately, but it wasn’t meant to be.

It had better be real soon or she
was going to die unfulfilled.

“Does this mean you’ve settled on
being with them?”

There was the big question, one or
both? Actually, it was not much of a problem. She knew the answer
before she’d left Japan and it was no different being at the Big W.
If anything, it was more obvious she wanted both, but was what she
felt love or lust?

“Matt I knew and fell for long
before he came to visit Nakamura Enterprises. And as for Ted, he is
sweet, adorable in a rough and quiet kind of way. I’m pretty sure
both, no, I know I want both of them. I need to figure out what I
feel for them.”

They sat in the heat, sweating and
thinking. There was no way to know if she was in love, much less
with two men. Something that big couldn’t be forced, it would
happen when the heart was ready. However, it didn’t mean she and
her friend wouldn’t endlessly dwell on the issue.

“We’re going to need some water to
get through today in the office.” Molly reached into one of her
bags, pulled a couple bottles of water, and handed one to
her.

“You and Jon seem to be spending
quite a bit of time together, alone. Do you like him?” Sakura
gulped the water down and put the lid back on the bottle. There
were other things going on around her she needed to pay attention
to and, despite the moment of passion, she was ready to focus on
the job at hand. Not necessarily ready, but close
enough.

“Yes,” Molly finally whispered. “He
is a gentleman who makes me think everything is possible. If he
crooked his finger and asked me to follow him, I would in a
second.”

“Well now, isn’t that interesting.
We both got caught in the ropes of cowboys. They raise them well in
Montana. Have you two kissed yet?”

“Every night we go for a walk after
dinner. He holds my hand as we watch the moon rise above the
mountain range, and the stars burst out across the clear blue-black
sky. It’s a beautiful moment, romantic even.”

“Sounds lovely, what’s the
problem?”

“When we get back to the guest
house, he pushes my hair gently off my face and kisses my forehead,
then leaves. He never says anything during those walks or hints he
wants more from me, but I want him and would give him everything if
he only asked.”

“It’s in the water.”

“What?” The unexpected response
pulled the other woman out of her lust filled stupor with a frown
of confusion.

“I get the sweet goodnight kiss as
well,” Sakura confided.

“Wait, you mean nothing happened
after we left the first night?”

“Nope, not much, and I’m dying for
them to do something. One or both, I’m good to go. They’ve made me
want them, and instead of taking what I’m offering they’re holding
me in sensual limbo. I need them and they know it, but they’re
giving nothing in return. Why don’t they take what we’re offering?
It must be something in the water.”

Jumping off the table, she turned
to Molly and decided they’d had enough dwelling on hard
questions.

“Enough wallowing in what we want
and don’t have. You get the clips? I’ll finish securing the wires,
then we can get started on running the last test runs. The system
is running smoothly, without any errors. It’s been easy thus far,
but next is ramping up the tagging. It’s going to get seriously
crazy. I don’t know about you, but I’m happy with how it’s going
thus far.” Laughing, Sakura started rummaging through the bags
until she found what she needed.

“Who knew building the system from
the ground up in a foreign country would go smoothly?” Molly told
her as they got back to work. “I keep expecting a major issue to
rear its ugly head, but nothing.”

“We prepared for everything or
almost anything. We’re that kind of good,” Sakura said as she
crawled under the table and held her hand out for clips.

“Fine. If we’re smart, how do we go
about getting these guys to see us as the sex goddesses we
are?”

“We’ll start by finishing here then
taking baths and scrubbing the sweat off us. I suggest tonight we
dress with seduction in mind. We won’t take the easy route, either.
No mini-skirts or tight blouses unbuttoned and flashing our
fabulous cleavage.” She held her hand out for more clips. “We go
classically elegant, show them what they’re missing out on. Let’s
see how far we can get using our wiles.”

“Good idea. For a couple weeks
we’ve had dinner with them every night and more often than not,
we’re wearing jeans and a t-shirt. If we aren’t making an effort,
why should they?”

“Come on, let’s finish here and
seduce us some cowboys.”

Like every other morning since
arriving in Montana, Sakura woke up horny as heck. As had become
her routine, she lay in bed ignoring her needs and instead went
over the plans for that day, except something was
different.

Of course things were different,
she was in a strange bed and different country, but there was
something else.

Slowly, she tuned into the smells
and sounds coming from the kitchen as they wafted into her room.
Sakura got out of bed and rushed through getting
dressed.

Last night after dinner no one had
said anything about meeting at the guest house. If they had, she
would’ve set the alarm to get up and make something for them to
eat, not the other way around.

Since the first day she woke on the
ranch, she and Molly met the guys for breakfast at the main house,
and discussed their progress and plans for the day. She believed it
was a good way to start the day, both professionally and
personally. Not only did it give her a chance to see Matt and Ted,
but they took the time to talk about the project, as well as other
ranch work. They all discussed where they were on the timeline,
good and bad things they’d encountered thus far, and the next steps
to be taken.

Sakura quickly pulled on her jeans,
tucked in her shirt before buttoning and zipping them, then finally
added a belt. Ranch work may be dirty, but it didn’t mean she
couldn’t start out the day by looking nice. The last items she put
on were her boots, which she adored. Scuffs and lines of wear were
already starting to appear, but they meant a great deal to her
because the Wilson brothers had gifted her with them.

After she’d thanked them, Ted had
quietly confided they’d chosen red because Matt had said the color
reminded him of her painted nipples. Those few words had turned her
on, but nothing else happened. Her sex life hadn’t been fed as well
as her stomach had since coming to the Big W Ranch.

The work was hard, physically and
mentally, and satisfying as she and Molly were their own
bosses.

Despite what had happened in the
barn office, it was all the same. Each night she’d been treated to
gentle goodnight kisses and tender hugs from Matt and Ted before
they left her at the door. It was sweet of them, although sweet was
not how she’d expected them to handle their budding relationship.
It wasn’t what she wanted, either.

Every night since arriving, she’d
lain alone in her bed and frustration grew even further out of
control. She wished they’d make a move, either one of them, and
give them all what they wanted.

When they’d spoken on the first
night she was sure she’d said her nights belonged to them. Why had
they left her to sleep alone? Wake up alone? She wanted a man to
take her badly, and she wanted the person to be them, or at least
one of them. On the other hand, the project was going smoothly
which meant she couldn’t complain.

Sakura wanted something to happen
that would hopefully see her needs for Matt and Ted were
satisfied.

Hurrying down the hallway to the
kitchen, she stopped when she found Ted cooking breakfast. He moved
easily around the small room, gracefully working over the old white
stove in his work clothes and boots. Sakura leaned against the
doorjamb and soaked in the homey moment.

Even though she’d traveled beyond
Osaka’s city limits, she admitted to being a woman used to living
with little exposure to the world at large. Despite the limited
travel, she’d found a sense of what home should be at the Big W
Ranch.

Feeling like she had landed in the
right place was helped by how her heart swelled and happiness
bloomed whenever Ted or Matt were nearby. They made her feel like
she’d finally found the place where she was meant to be.

“Morning, I didn’t know we were
meeting here.” Sakura walked into the kitchen, picked up the jug of
orange juice, and filled the two glasses already on the table.
There were usually five of them and she asked where the others
were.

“Jon took Molly to Bozeman to get
some printing done and Matt will meet with us for lunch. You and I
are going riding.” Ted walked over, placed a kiss on her forehead,
then placed their plates on the table before sitting
down.

“Riding?” Even though they were on
a ranch with horses, she hadn’t considered getting back on one, but
wasn’t turned off by the idea, either.

“Court brought over two horses, one
for you and the other for Molly. I’m supposed to tell you how Sunny
helped in the picking. From what I saw when they were delivered,
she’s done a great job.”

“How exciting.” She may have
muttered her response, but it wasn’t from a lack of enthusiasm for
their upcoming ride.

Hearing him mention the other
woman’s name suddenly turned on a light bulb. She was reminded of
the advice Sunny had given her the day they’d arrived in Gardiner.
She had said something about having to make the first move,
otherwise nothing would happen. With a secret smile, she realized
how right the other woman had actually been. While she’d been
waiting for them to do something, they were waiting for her start
things off.

She was the one who made the first
move when Matt appeared in the barn office and was rewarded. Not
fully, but that wasn’t his fault.

“All hands not involved in the
calving and tagging project are rounding up and prepping a group of
cattle we’ll take to auction next week. While they’re doing that,
you and I are going to check out the fencing for the eastern
pasture. There was some damage done during the last storm and it
needs to be fixed before we bring any cattle to graze.

“Afterward, we’ll check the two
emergency line shacks along the way for what is needed to restock
its provisions. Lastly, if there’s time, we’ll come back through
the northern fields to see how the new calves are
doing.”