Read Her Cowboy Bears (BBW MMF Menage Shapeshifter Romance) Online
Authors: Tabitha O'Dell
Her Cowboy Bears
BBW MMF Ménage Shifter Erotic Romance
By
Tabitha O’Dell
Copyright 2015 by
Tabitha O’Dell
All rights reserved
Cover photo image
credit:
aarrttuurr
& romancephotos| depositphotos.com
The thing I remember most were the hands. So many
hands. Hands touching me, my hands touching them, and their hands touching each
other. We didn’t need words, only touch, and the two men led me to the greatest
pleasure I could have ever imagined.
I hadn’t gone looking for love, or sex, or whatever we
had was. I’d gone looking for adventure and I guess I found it in the wild
plains of Wyoming, with the Rocky Mountains at my back.
While my friends had all decided their adventures
would be spent backpacking through Europe or hitting the beaches in Mexico, I’d
always wanted to try my hand at being a country girl, even if it was only for a
little while.
I was also planning my adventure much later than any
of my friends. They’d all gone out and seen the world while we were still in
college, but we’d graduated over a year ago and with no real job prospects, I
finally gave up and announced I was going to spend a few months in Wyoming.
“Caitlyn, no,” my best friend Alana said when I
announced my plans over a round of beers. “Come on, you’ve never even left
Chicago.”
“So?” I asked. “Now I’m leaving the city. It’s only
for a few months and it’s a ranch that does this kind of thing all the time.
They take ‘city slickers’ like me and turn them into real country folks. I can
do this.”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way,” Alana said. “But,
um, well, you aren’t really in the kind of shape most cowgirls are.”
It was her polite way of saying I was too fat to go on
this kind of adventure. Part of me wanted to go on the defensive and yell at
her but she wasn’t entirely wrong. I’d never gone to a gym before, I loved
snacks just a little too much, and I knew that hauling my ass over a four
thousand acre ranch would be a challenge, but I didn’t want easy street. A
challenge was exactly what I was after.
“I know, I know,” I told her, trying to appreciate her
concern rather than be insulted by it. “But I think it’ll be good for me. The
pay is shit, but it’ll be great exercise and who knows, maybe I’ll lose some of
that weight.”
“It’s not just the weight,” she said, her face
furrowing with concern. “You’re leaving behind your whole life.”
“You went to China for six months!” I shot back at
her. “How is that any different?”
“Because I did that when I was twenty and it was a
college semester,” she replied. “I didn’t just go for fun, I was in school. And
I was young and didn’t have a life here yet.”
“And I do now?” I asked. “Alana, my job sucks, I’m
single, and I’ve already found a subletter for my apartment. It’s the perfect
time for me to do this. It’s only for a few months and then I’m back again.”
“Just be careful,” she said as she leaned back in her
chair. “When do you leave?”
“Next week,” I told her. “I fly out of O’Hare and land
in Jackson Hole, as weird as that sounds. It’s me and three other people and
the guys who run the ranch pick us up there.”
“Are the other people all from Chicago?” she asked.
“I don’t think so,” I told her. “They didn’t tell me
where everyone is from, which I get. People’s personal business and stuff. I
just know it’s one other girl and two guys.”
“Well, I wish you good luck,” she said with a tip of
her beer. “And Caitlyn, please know I won’t judge you if you decide to come
home early.”
“I know,” I said, but I had already vowed to see this
through. Three month working the ranch would fly by, and what I didn’t tell my
best friend was that if I liked it, I might just see about staying there for
good.
I spent my last week in Chicago shopping for clothes
to wear on the ranch. Most of the things that I owned were simple skirts and
blouses for my crappy office job, and none of that would do in Wyoming.
I stocked up on jeans, boots, and plaid shirts along
with a heavy coat. I was going in August, but the nights might get cold and I
would be there until October. Warm cloths would be necessary.
The night before I left, I couldn’t sleep at all and I
was at the airport so early that I had nothing to do but sit and drink coffee
after coffee until it was time for me to fly out, but I didn’t even care. My
adventure was about to start.
The lack of sleep and the overload of caffeine didn’t
make for a fun flight and thankfully I slept through most of it, but when I
arrived in Jackson Hole I was so groggy that I almost forgot to get my bags from
the luggage carousel and I went to the information desk like I’d been
instructed to by my new employers.
“Um, hi,” I said as I approached the desk. “I’m
supposed to be meeting the people from the Hollyhock Ranch here at three and
they told me to see information.”
“Oh yes,” the pleasant woman behind the desk said. “The
pickup is up the hall and out the sliding doors. Most of the ranches have their
name on the vehicle they’re driving, so just look for that.”
“Thanks,” I said as I grabbed my bags and hauled them
in the direction I’d been told.
It was only when I’d gotten outside that I wished the
guys from the ranch had told me anything about the other people I’d be meeting.
There were people everywhere and I had no clue who was on their way to the
ranch with me and I didn’t think I had a choice but to sit back and wait.
No,
a voice inside me said.
Don’t just give
up.
The voice was right. I’d spent my whole life being
quiet. Now I was far away from home, far from everyone I’d ever known, and
there was no reason for me to be so meek. It was time to change things.
“Hi, excuse me,” I said as I went up to a group of
people that matched the boy-boy-girl description I’d been given. “Are you going
to Hollyhock?”
“No, sorry,” the girl said.
“No problem,” I told her and went on to the next
group.
I’d hit three different groups of people when I
finally heard, “Hey, you’re the girl looking for the people going to Hollyhock
Ranch, right?”
“That’s me,” I told the guy. He was tall and skinny
with a line of lingering acne on his jaw, but he had kind eyes.
“This way,” he said. “We’re still waiting on the
truck.”
I followed the tall guy toward two other people – a
man and a woman – who were both waiting by the curb. The other guy was short,
but built strong with huge muscles.
The other was a girl who was my age, but other than
that we couldn’t be more different. She was tall with long blonde hair, perfect
features, and long willowy legs. She was gorgeous and my heart sunk a little.
“Hi, I’m Caitlyn,” I introduced myself in an effort to
be polite.
“I’m Max,” the tall gay said. “And this is Isaac.”
“And I’m Ophelia,” the pretty young woman said. “Where
are you from?”
“Chicago,” I offered.
“You ever been on a ranch before?” Ophelia asked.
“No,” I admitted. “Have you?”
“I’ve dabbled,” she said as she tossed her hair over
her shoulder. “And I own three horses. This should be a breeze for me.”
Instantly I got the impression that she had it out for
me and my chin quivered, but my savior came in the form of a beat up pickup with
the name Hollyhock stenciled on the side.
“You our new ranchers?” a man asked as he leaned out
of the passenger window.
My jaw went slack when I saw him. When I signed up for
this, I pictured two older men needing help around the ranch in their old age,
but this guy looked to be about thirty, with a square jaw and bright green eyes
topped off with a cowboy hat. He was unbelievably hot, and when I saw the
driver, I lost it all over again.
They were a perfect duo. Tall, hot cowboys and now
they were my bosses.
I was in heaven.
“You’ll need to squeeze in the back,” the driver said.
“And throw your bags in the back there.”
We did as we were told and shuffled into the back. No
one bothered with a seatbelt – we couldn’t even find them, and our drivers
introduced themselves.
“I’m Eli,” the man in the passenger seat said. “And
this is Austin.”
I was in shock. I couldn’t believe these two men would
be who I was working for. They were so hot, so unbelievably hot.
And I knew I had no chance with Ophelia around.
You’re not here to flirt
, I reminded myself on
the drive over from the airport.
You’re here to work.
I stuck to that motto when we got to Hollyhock Ranch.
It was even bigger than I expected, absolutely massive, with an old farm house
at the end of a long lane off an old dirt road.
“It’s only three bedrooms,” Eli told us. “So you’ll need
to bunk up.”
“Great,” Ophelia said with a roll of her eyes, but she
was the only one that offered any form of protest. The rest of us just grabbed our
bags and made for the house, but she stayed behind and waited until one of the
guys offered to get her stuff for her.
“She’s going to be a real pill,” Max whispered to
Isaac. It wasn’t meant for my ears, but it made me smile all the same. The girl
might be beautiful, but that didn’t mean she could hold her own on the ranch.
I couldn’t allow myself to get cocky, though, and when
four am came the next morning, I learned that lesson well. My alarm was a
banging on the door to the room I was sharing with Ophelia and I climbed out of
bed to get dressed while she only pulled the covers over her head.
“We need to get to work,” I told her. “The warned us
it was a four am wakeup call.”
“Whatever,” was all she said and I let her be. I
couldn’t force her out of bed.
My first day on the ranch was probably the hardest day
of my life. Between feeding the horses, saddling them, and getting out to check
on the cattle before the sun even rose, I was exhausted before lunch.
And then there was the other work to be done. Tossing
hay, cleaning stalls, feeding the animals. My bones ached and I nearly skipped
dinner to sleep, but when I sat at the table with my new coworkers, I was
filled with the best sense of accomplishment.
Dinner was also the first time we saw Ophelia all day,
and she came downstairs fresh as the morning sun.
“Sorry about that,” she purred at our new employers. “Jetlag
and all.”
“Well, you get a pass today,” Austin said as he handed
her a plate. “But we expect you working just like everyone else tomorrow.”
“No problem,” she assured him. “No problem at all.”
But it was a problem. Sure, she actually got out of
bed, but Eli and Austin stuck her with me to learn the things I’d learned the
day before.
“Just show her the ropes,” Austin told me, and when he
put a reassuring hand on my shoulder, I just couldn’t say no.
But all day Ophelia whined, complained, and insisted I
do her share of the work. Even the stuff with the horses she couldn’t manage,
despite the fact that she claimed to own three of them herself.
“This is gross,” she moaned as we cleaned out the
stalls. “When do we ride the horses?”
“When we’re told to,” I told her as I chucked more
soiled straw out of the stall. “Come on, we need to get this done before
dinner.”
That was nearly impossible when I was essentially
working alone, but it was worth it when Eli stopped by and told me he was proud
of how fast I was learning. Our bosses were so encouraging and nice, and
thankfully they didn’t put up with Ophelia’s shit for long.
She lasted the span of a week at Hollyhock. I hadn’t
meant to overhear the conversation, but when I stumbled on it, I was over the
moon. They’d given her so many chances in the span of a week and now they were
telling her she had to go.
She didn’t even put up a fight. She had just mumbled
okay and I barely got out of sight before Eli and Austin walked right by where
I’d been eavesdropping. I had to run back to the stable to make sure they didn’t
know I was where I shouldn’t have been, but somehow I made it just in time to
have them walk in behind me.
“Um, hey,” I said as I shovelled more manure. I hated
how good I was getting at shovelling shit, but after only a week, I could
already feel the muscles in my arms getting bigger. My back hurt all the time,
but it was a good ache. The ache that came with getting in shape.
“Hey Caitlyn, big favor to ask you this afternoon,”
Eli said. “Would you mind driving Ophelia back to the airport? She’d decided
she doesn’t want to continue working here.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” I said. “But sure, I can take
her.”
“Good,” Austin said. “We knew we could count on you.
There’s a GPS in the truck. Have a shower and head out.”
“Will do,” I told them and nearly skipped all the way
back to the house. Not only was Ophelia leaving, but Eli and Austin trusted me enough
to get her to the airport and back
The ride to the airport was awkward to say the very
least. It was a three hour trip just to get there, and at least I had a little
cash to get some fast food while I was away from the ranch, but being stuck in
the truck with Ophelia for three hours was silent torture.
“I’m really sorry it didn’t work out,” I offered as I
drove the truck down the highway. We had already put most of the trip behind
us, and it had taken me that long to say those seven words.
“I’m not,” Ophelia said. “I thought that place would
be fun, but it was just work. Who needs that?”
I do,
I wanted to tell her, but I said, “It’s
not for everyone.”
“Whatever,” she shot back. “‘I’m glad to be done. I
thought I’d like working for Eli and Austin, but they’re just weird.”
“What?” I asked, suddenly regretting opening my mouth.
I didn’t think they were weird. They were nothing but nice.
“Come on, just cause they’re hot doesn’t mean you can’t
have noticed them being weird,” she said.
“I haven’t,” I countered. She was probably just
blaming them as a defensive technique. It would be easier than realizing she’d
done it to herself.