Free Texas Tangle by Leah Braemel Page B

tongue out at him before clicking to the colt, wheeling him in the opposite direction.
    Dillon dropped to his knees and rummaged through his toolbox, searching for a screwdriver. As he unscrewed the saw’s air filter housing, his father’s old Ford pulled into the yard.
    His father resettled his Stetson and joined Dillon in the shade. “Hot one today.”
    “Yup. Gonna reach one hundred again.” Had probably reached it already. Which made him worry about Nikki working out in the sun.
    “Your mom was disappointed you missed Sunday dinner.” His dad hunkered down and poked through his toolbox. “You know how important it is to your momma to have her family together at least once a week. Especially with Griff working up north and Ethan away at college.”
    “Sorry. We were over at Nikki’s place helping her clean up the mess Phil left, and I lost track of time.” He sat back on his heels watching her pull a water bottle from her pocket and take a long swig. Even from this distance, he could see the long, smooth column of her throat move as she swallowed. He released a breath as he remembered touching it when she’d gone down on him in the shower. Damned if he didn’t get hard just at the memory.
    “You running her back and forth to her place to do her chores every day?”
    He shifted, easing the tightness in his jeans. “Nah. Brett thought it best if we brought her horses over here, just in case Phil realized how much they were worth and decided to come back for them.”
    “That must have taken you a while, shipping all those horses in her little trailer. You could have borrowed my big rig if you’d needed.”

    Dillon shot him a smug grin. “I just cut a hole in the fence between our places and led them through.” They’d debated putting a gate in place of the hole when they were finished. While he’d argued—and won—that it might be too tempting to Phil to just open the gate and lure the horses back onto her land, he’d secretly wanted to make it harder for Nikki to move back to her place. “Brett and I have worked out our hours so there’s always someone here to keep an eye on her, just in case Phil does try something though.”
    “Speaking of Brett, where is your brother? He around?” His dad picked up a socket wrench and spun it around in his fingers, making it whir. Geez, sometimes he could be as big a kid as Dillon’s youngest brother, Matt.
    “Brett’s run into Dallas on police business.”
    Nikki had the colt switch directions, rewarding him with a click when he obeyed. Dillon found it hard to believe the horse had never worn a halter a month before. Then again, he’d wear a halter if it meant she’d pay attention to him, reward him with treats the way she did the colt. Or better yet, he’d like to use some leather bindings on her. Tie her up to his bed and spend the day pleasuring her.
    “Thought he was off on Wednesdays.”
    Dillon grabbed the rag from his pocket and wiped his face. Fantasizing about tying up your girlfriend when your father was a couple feet away definitely breached the weirdness boundaries.
    “Yeah, well, Tiny O’Brien called this morning, saying they had a lead on her brother. They traced the GPS chip in Nik’s cell phone to Dallas. Brett figured they might get further with the cops there if they had to deal with an actual person, instead of a voice on a phone.”
    “Well, when he gets back, tell him to drop by, will you? Your sister wants to ask him about living in Boston. Figured he’d be able to tell her what it was like from when he went to school there.”
    “She doing a school project or something?”
    “Or something.” His father grunted as he replaced the wrench and picked up a file. “She’s trying to decide where to apply for college. She got some wild hair about going to school up east like Brett did, instead of going to Aggie like the rest of you boys. Your mom’s hoping Brett will dissuade her, but I’m not so sure. The boy stayed there