Page 2 of Wrangle Me, Cowboys

“But there’s three of them. What if they get jealous and weird?”

“So they all want you, together, at the same time?”

“I think so,” I squeaked.

“Well, I guess you won the breakup. A foursome beats a threesome.”

“Four mouths are better than three,” I said, paraphrasing the evil ex, and we both dissolved into laughter. But under the laughter, it still hurt. The sting of rejection hadn’t quite worn off yet.

But I did wonder about my stepbrothers, which meant I was moving on. The question was, which one of them would I move on with? Holden had told me I didn’t have to choose. Maybe he hadn’t meant it the way I’d taken it. Maybe he’d meant it like, I didn’t have to worry about choosing because they would never hook up with their stepsister, no matter how perfect that kiss had been.

But I didn’t think so. I thought he meant it like, I didn’t have to choose because I could have them all. Which just seemed too good to be true, and also, I worried about the logistics of it. Would I rotate from one room to the next each night? Would we need to make a schedule? What if I needed a night off or I had my period? What if one of them got mad because I made more noise in the room next door with his brother? What if I just wanted to be held by big, cuddly Holden, but it was rough-and-ready Waylon’s night?

Or would it be a foursome—all three of them at the same time? And if it was that, could I handle it?

2

Amber

When I dragged myself out of bed at last, I did my usual morning routine at a leisurely pace—shower, get dressed, make myself a simple breakfast, and head out to take a walk. In the distance, I could see one of the tractors in the field, and a cowboy-hatted figure bending over the fence. The sun was bright on the thin layer of snow that had fallen—the first snow of the year.

I smiled as I approached the figure. I could tell by his massive barrel chest and towering treelike height that it was Holden, and that Sawyer was just beyond him, also working on the fence.

“Hey,” I said, waving so they’d know I was nearby and not sneaking up on them to spy on their conversation. Which I kinda wanted to do, just to see if Holden had told Sawyer about kissing me yet.

“Howdy, Princess,” Sawyer said, tipping his brown leather hat at me, dimples sinking into his tan cheeks.

I seriously wanted to kiss him, too.

God, I was terrible. But maybe understandable, considering what I’d recently been through.

“What are you up to?” Holden asked, smiling from beneath the brim of his hat. He was wearing what I’d begun to think of as “the ranch uniform.” Canvas coveralls, work gloves, and boots.

“Just walking,” I said with a shrug. “But I wouldn’t mind learning to something useful around here. If I’m going to be here for three months, I might as well become…I don’t know. A ranch hand?”

Sawyer laughed, the corners of his blue eye crinkling as he squinted up at me from where he was crouched, holding a strand of barbed wire taut with one gloved hand while he twisted the end with a pair of pliers. “You want to be a ranch hand?”

“Yeah, or something,” I said. “So I’m not just sitting around the house looking pretty.”

“But you do that so well.”

“Shut up,” I said. “I told you, I’m not here to be your Holly Housewife.”

“Don’t tell our ma that,” Holden said. “That’s the only reason she’d find acceptable for you being here.”

“Wow, your dad better not be expecting that from my mom,” I said. “She’s pretty much married to her seat on the senate, and the only thing she knows how to make is a gin-and-tonic.”

“Can’t wait to meet her,” Sawyer said. “She sounds lovely.”

I laughed and shook a finger at him. “Don’t insult my mother. Only I can do that.”

“Ditto.”

“If that was meant to distract me, it’s not going to work,” I said. “Come on, don’t make me sit around inside all winter. I’ll go nuts. In New York, there was a party pretty much every night of the week. Either at school, or a political dinner, or a photo opportunity for one of my parents that I had to attend, or a fundraiser, or a club opening…”

“That sounds…exhausting,” Holden said. “I’m sorry.”

I stared at him. “I think the word you’re looking for is exciting.”