Page 66 of Claimed By the Cowboys

Loretta nods once, almost to herself. Then she turns back to us.

“Then I suppose… I should see the rest of this place. All of it.”

I stand, heart thudding hard with cautious hope, and offer my hand to help her up.

“We’d be glad to show you, ma’am.”

She doesn’t take my hand right away. But after a moment, she does, and it’s a step forward I’d barely dared to hope that we’d take.

Chapter 36

Brandy

I drop Mama off with my insides still twisted up over everything that’s happened. She doesn’t say much, and neither do I. When I pull up to the curb, she rests her hand on the door handle for a moment, then looks at me. I’m braced for her to explode with her real feelings but that isn’t what happens.

“I still don’t understand it,” she says softly. “But I saw how they looked at you. And how you looked at them. They’re gentle with you in the same way Daddy was with me.”

I swallow around the sudden tightness in my throat. “Thank you for coming today. For giving them a chance.”

“Have you really thought about this, Brandy? Are you ready to lose a lot of the life you have?”

“If people are willing to turn their back on me because I love differently from them, I’m okay with losing them.”

“It’s not that simple, baby. Life never is. People have their ways and their boundaries. You’re breezing right past a whole lot.”

“I know, Mama, but what do you want me to do? My heart belongs to them. I can’t take it back. It doesn’t work like that.”

She purses her lips, then folds them in, trapping what she wants to say inside rather than exposing her words to the air. “I’ve already lost your sister and your father. I’m not going to lose another daughter. I may not approve of the setup, but they seem like good men. It’s going to take me a while to accept this, but I’ll try.” She reaches out and rests her hand on my arm. “You’re a good woman, Brandy. You rarely think of yourself. I can’t fault you for how you’ve lived your life and what you’ve done for Naomi and Elijah. All I want is the best for you, and for you to be happy.”

“I am happy, Mama,” I say, resting my hand over hers. “I’m happier than I ever thought I could be.”

She nods once. “Are you coming inside?”

“No. I’m going to go back to the ranch. Can you collect the kids?”

“Of course.”

She gets out. I wait until she’s safely inside before I turn the car around and head back toward the ranch.

When I pull up near the house, Bo and Jensen are both on the porch waiting. The second I step out of the car, they’re halfway toward me.

I walk straight into their arms.

Bo’s mouth finds mine first, kissing with a passion we couldn’t show in front of my mother. Jensen presses in behind me, his lips brushing the side of my neck, and his hands settling warmly on my hips. I melt between them as the last of the day’s tension drains out of me in one long breath.

“Take me inside,” I whisper. “I need you.”

They do.

We barely make it through the bedroom door before hands are everywhere, pushing my dress up, unhooking my bra, peeling away the rest of my clothes with careful urgency. I help them strip too, greedy for their touch and their bare skin against mine. When we’re all undressed, Bo lifts me onto the bed and follows me down, kissing me like he’s been starving for it.

Jensen moves to the side of the bed and opens the top drawer of the nightstand. He comes back with one of the leather belts they keep there.

My breath catches.

Bo notices and cups my face. “You want that tonight, sweetheart?”

I nod, already offering my wrists. “Please. I need you both to be in control.”