Page 19 of Wrangle Me, Cowboys

“No one deserves you,” Haley said. “Except me, and I’m not really into eating pussy, no offense. But I do know you pretty well, and I don’t think hiding in shame is what you really want to do.”

“It’s not,” I said, throwing myself back on my pillows. “What I want is for my mom not to be married to their dad so they’ll stop trying to push me away. Do you think we can break them up?”

Haley laughed. “Not in two months.”

“Hmm, okay. What about getting them used to the idea so they’ll give us their blessing? You think we could do that in two months?”

“Not even in two million years,” Haley said. “Look, Amber, if you start hooking up with even one of your stepbrothers, people are going to freak out. And if you’re hooking up with all of them, they’ll completely lose their shit. I’m not going to lie. That’s what’ll happen. So the question is, are you willing to risk that? Or not?”

11

Sawyer

“You were up late last night,” Holden said to Waylon at breakfast. His voice was bland, but I knew he was up to something, the way a brother just knows.

Waylon paused, then shoveled a forkful of eggs into his mouth. “Storm,” he muttered.

I took a long swig of coffee before wading it. “You could call her that.”

Waylon glanced up and then continued eating.

“Look, we’ve been waiting for the right woman for three goddamn years,” I said. “I’m tired of waiting. She’s the first woman who’s ever come close to what we’re looking for.”

“And here she is, delivered to our doorstep,” Holden said. “That’s gotta be a sign.”

Waylon grunted.

“I say we give her a chance,” I said. “If she wants to, of course.”

“Oh, she wants to,” Waylon said.

“And what other woman has wanted to, not run screaming from the idea, and not just treated it like one wild night?” I asked.

“Even if Dad did marry her mom, we’re all adults now,” Holden said. “It’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped. That’s not our fault. And it’s not hers. And we never even lived together as stepsiblings. It’s not weird.”

Waylon snorted. “Tell that to the people in town,” he said. “Tell it to our parents.”

“They may not be thrilled, but they can’t do shit about it,” I reminded him. “When else will we have a woman like her? She’s perfect, she’s willing, she’s open-minded…” Not to mention she made my cock stiff every time she touched me. But I didn’t have to tell them that—I knew they felt it, too. I could see the strain of restraint on them every time she walked in the room, same as it was for me.

“I’ll agree with one thing,” Waylon said. “It’s time the old man learned he can’t control us anymore. He’s been doing it all our lives. Even now, dangling a loan over our heads. Making us take care of Amber. We’ll take care of her all right.”

“You in agreement, then?” Holden asked, watching our big brother intently.

“I didn’t say that,” Waylon said, setting down his fork and taking a gulp of coffee. “We can’t have it getting out that we’re all living up here and in a relationship. And it will get out. Eventually, it will. Just like it got out with Maria—and that time, it wasn’t even the truth.”

“We can protect her better if she’s on the inside with us,” I said. “She’s trouble, I’ll admit. But I always did like trouble.”

“She’s got more to lose than we do,” Waylon said. “She’s still a teenager, for Christ’s sake. She may not understand it now, but it could ruin her entire professional life, something like that getting into the news.”

“Protecting her comes first,” Holden agreed. “We’ll have to make sure nothing gets out that could tarnish her reputation. It should be her choice.”

“We gotta do what’s right for us, too,” I said. “And what I see in her, it’s right for you both. It’s about time we had a woman we could all love. And one who respects and cares for our needs, too.” All I could think about was how eager she’d been to kiss me at the table the other day, how willing she was. I didn’t think we’d get any hesitation on her part. If we put the question to her, we had to be pretty damn sure she’d accept. And it seemed we were.

Waylon got up and picked up his hat, pushing it low on his head. “I don’t think I can resist her much longer, anyway,” he growled. “She’s like a cat in heat.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” I said, standing and downing the rest of my coffee, chewing the stray grounds between my teeth as I grabbed my own hat and coat.

“We can’t just go in there cocks blazing,” Waylon said. “Not if she’s a damn virgin.”