Page 21 of Rope Me, Cowboys

Sawyer knelt at my other side and, before I could warn him, unzipped Waylon’s jacket. His eyes widened, and his mouth fell open and then closed without a word coming out. “Oh,” he said, his voice slightly choked.

Just then, the door flew open, and Holden stepped inside. He pulled up short, the heels of his cowboy boots probably leaving skid marks on the hardwood. His eyes just about popped out of his head.

Not gonna lie, I was not entirely comfortable with my nipples on full display for my three sexy stepbrothers to stand around ogling.

But I was not entirely uncomfortable, either.

A sense of power swelled inside me as Holden rushed to the couch to gather blankets, and Waylon rubbed feeling into my arms, and Sawyer sat there staring at my nips like they were made of rubies. I could have sat up, or pushed them away, or grabbed my jacket closed. But I didn’t want to. For once, just this once, I wanted to enjoy being the center of attention.

For once, I wasn’t doing something bad just to get that attention. I wasn’t drinking or puking or threatening to hook up with someone from the libertarian party. I wasn’t getting my picture taken by a photographer who might extort my mother to get it hidden. I wasn’t putting my leg behind my head at a bar while wearing a skirt.

For once, it was all about me. I wasn’t doing it for anyone else. It was just me, and just them, and maybe I deserved to have someone pay attention to me for some reason other than what I’d done wrong.

So for just for a minute, I let myself feel the warmth spreading through my body as Waylon’s strong, capable fingers massaged my muscles. I let myself enjoy the concern in Holden’s eyes when he dropped to his knees and spread a thick blanket over me. I let myself soak up Sawyer’s admiration as he slowly eased off the jacket and dropped it on the floor beside him.

His hand closed around mine at the same moment Waylon found my other hand again after dropping it to help remove his jacket from around me. This time, his fingers moved slowly up my bare arm, sending fire racing through my veins. His grip was firm, his thumb pressing deep against my muscle as he slowly massaged the feeling into my right arm. Sawyer held my left hand, his strokes quick and agitated as he tried to get my blood flowing faster. Holden knelt above me, gently rubbing my hair with a towel.

The sensation warmed a lot more than my arms. As my cold shudders subsided, tingles took over, racing across my body and down my belly, building pressure between my legs.

I couldn’t decide where to look, at Sawyer’s burning, intense eyes or Waylon’s stormy, dark ones. So I looked instead at Holden, whose earnest expression of concern almost broke my heart. His fingers slowed when our eyes met, then slipped from the towel into my hair. Electricity sizzled through my body, and before I could stop myself, a moan escaped my lips.

And then the front door flew open and a blast of icy wind swept across the room, along with the scrutinizing gaze of one Mrs. Grimes, elderly neighbor and caretaker.

18

Amber

I might have laughed at the horrified, scandalized expression on Mrs. Grimes’s face, but since I was currently half naked and in a state of pure bliss, I decided to shut my mouth this once and let the guys do the talking.

“Well, I never,” Mrs. Grimes cried. “I heard quite a commotion earlier, but this!”

“Mrs. Grimes,” Waylon said, withdrawing his hand from under my blanket and rising halfway.

“What on earth is going on in this house?” she demanded, fisting her hands on her hips. “I’m sure your mother will want to know what you’ve been up to in her house.”

“My mother?” I asked, pushing up onto my elbows before remembering that I was topless. The blanket slid down, and I flashed poor old Mrs. Grimes a full-frontal of my boobs.

Oops.

Her eyes widened, and her mouth puckered into the sourest expression I’d ever seen. “My heavens,” she exclaimed, grasping behind her for the doorknob but missing. “Your mother certainly will be interested in this.”

“This isn’t our mother’s house anymore,” Waylon growled. “It’s our house. And I don’t remember inviting you in.”

“I can see why,” she said in a huff, grabbing the doorknob at last. “And I certainly wouldn’t want an invitation now that I know just what goes on in this house.”

With that, she yanked open the door, stepped out into the darkness, and slammed the door shut behind her.

“Fuck,” Waylon said, taking off his hat and hurling it across the room.

“What should we do?” Holden asked.

“Nothing we can do,” Sawyer said. “Did you see her face? There’s going to be trouble for sure.”

“You’d think she’s never heard of a woman falling in a cow trough before,” I said indignantly.

“How’d you manage that?” Sawyer asked, a grin starting to spread across his sexy, dark lips.

“The bull chased me in,” I said, punching him on the arm. “Don’t laugh. I almost died.”