“Is that like a spiritual belief?”
“Yes,” Dallas says. “I’m Ojibwe.” He moves to stand beside
me again.
Ahh, that would explain the high cheekbones and obsidian
eyes. “So you’re from out East?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you like the West?”
“It has its pros and…cons.” His lips twist and I know he’s
making a play on Connor’s name. He’s looking over my shoulder and I glance
behind me to see Connor walking over with another man beside him.
“Hey Dallas, can you take Doctor Green over to check on the
late springers?”
“’Course.” Dallas nods at me and then walks in the other
direction toward the truck.
“Dallas,” Connor calls. “Tess and I are going riding later.
Do you want to come along?”
Dallas flicks his gaze to me and then back at Connor.
“Sure,” he says and I think I see that rare hint of a smile on his face. My
body’s reaction is instant. My cheeks flush in conjunction with my nether
regions.
“What the hell is a late springer?” I ask as Dallas and the
vet take off in the truck.
“The heifers that are late to calf.”
“Oh.”
Connor takes my arm. “You don’t mind if Dallas joins us, do
you?”
“No,” I say, anticipation prickling low in my belly. “But do
you think Wade will mind?”
Looking me dead in the eye, Connor says, “I sure as hell
hope so.”
Chapter Five
A
fter
washing up and changing my damp clothes, I meet Connor back at the stables.
He’s got three horses saddled and is loading up food and drinks into some
saddle bags.
“Hey hot stuff. Come meet Dixie.”
I laugh. Of course he would put me on Dixie. She’s a
beautiful gentle-looking brown and white horse. She’s got a lighter colored
mane and her eyes are liquid gold with long lashes. I fall in love with her
immediately.
As I’m leading her out into the yard, Dallas shows up,
wearing a different shirt and smelling suspiciously fresh with a hint of some
spicy cologne. I can’t hide my grin. No one wears cologne on a trail ride
unless they’re hoping for a little something more than time spent on a horse’s
back.
I shake my head. I’m no different. I’m wearing my best set
of undies, black lace. I guess Dallas isn’t the only one hoping for a little
something-something from this trail ride.
“You remember how to mount?” Connor asks. “Or do you need my
help?”
I laugh, thinking about the double entendre of his words. “I
think I’ve got it,” I say with a huge smile as I hold onto the reins and the
saddle horn and step my left foot up into the stirrup. Thank God for yoga,
because I somehow manage to swing my right leg up and over the horse with more
grace than expected.
“Good girl,” Connor says appreciatively. “It’s like you were
born to ride.”
“I doubt that,” I say with a laugh. Even though I’ve taken
immediately to Dixie, I’m still nervous. Riding always takes me a little bit to
get used to. I stroke Dixie’s soft neck and whisper words of appreciation in
her ear while we wait for Dallas to join us.
Within minutes the three of us are mounted and on our way.
As we pass through the ranch lands, Connor points out different points of
interest, the pasture of horses, the separate pastures for the bulls. They’re a
bunch of new foals scampering around on spindly legs. By the time we’re on the
trail toward Lookout Point, I’m feeling much more comfortable.
It’s a beautiful spring day in the Northern Rockies and the
fields are covered in a dusting of fresh green grass. The buds on the trees
have just popped, painting the foothills with a lime green paintbrush. Though
the air is cool and fresh, the sun is shining and I lift my face to its warmth.
Soon the trail becomes wooded as we reach the foothills on the eastern slopes
of the Rockies. The air cools down and I’m struck by the fresh scent of earth,
pine and new leaves. After about an hour, we stop in a clearing and dismount.
“Take Tess and the food up to the lookout, I’ll take care of
the horses,” Connor says.
Slinging the food sack over his shoulder, Dallas holds out
his hand. “Come on.”
After no more than a moment’s hesitation, I take his hand.
Apart from his touch when he tied my hair back, it’s the first contact we’ve
had. His hand is lean and warm with the familiar calluses, similar to those on
both Wade and Connor. Familiar and yet different and terribly exciting.
The path up to the lookout is steep and narrow and
eventually Dallas releases my hand so that we can hike single file. Once we
reach the top, I’m panting and I collapse on a tree stump, trying to catch my
breath.
“Must be the altitude,” I joke.
“Must be. Because…” Dallas’s eyes roam over me before he
continues, “…you look like you’re in pretty damn fine shape.”
I clear my throat and manage a squeaky, “Thanks.” Dallas may
be young in years, but his manner and attitude make him seem much older.
“Thank
you
,” he says.
“For what?”
“For inviting me to join you.” He spreads a blanket out on
the ground and opens up the food bag.
Moving onto the blanket beside him, I take the water bottle
he offers me, drink and then pass it back. I watch him drink, his head tilted
back, his throat corded with sinew, his skin golden brown. “It’s my pleasure,”
I say, my voice sounding kind of husky.
He screws the cap back on the bottle and eyes me beneath the
brim of his hat. “What is it about you?” He reaches for my cheek and grazes my
skin with the back of his knuckles.
The contact, though innocent, keeps my breath coming faster
than it should. I lean toward him and reach up along the inside of his arm,
marvelling at the strength of his forearm muscles.
“Tess?”
“Mmm?”
“Can I kiss you?”
My breath is coming too hard for me to answer. So I nod and
wet my lips.
But he doesn’t kiss me right away. He only looks at me with
that deep, soul-searching look and those midnight eyes. Slowly, ever so slowly,
he leans down. With a simple lift of my chin, he urges my face up to meet his.
Oh God. His lips are so soft. I melt against him, wrapping
my arms around his neck. His hat tumbles off the back of his head when he
slants his head to kiss me deeper, sweeping his tongue through my mouth and
teasing my lower lip with his teeth.
He pulls away and presses his forehead against mine. Thank
God I’m not the only one breathing hard now.
“You know,” I say softly. “When I first met you, I thought
you didn’t like me.”
He moves back from me and reclines onto his elbows. “I
didn’t,” he says without apology.
“What? Why not?”
Cocking his head to the side, he takes another one of his
sidelong looks at me. “You showed up out of the blue and like that—” he snaps
his fingers, “—you manage to snag the thing I’ve wanted for a long time.”
“Wade,” I say quietly.
He tugs on a loose thread in the blanket. “Yeah. Wade.” He
looks up at me. “Wade and Connor together would be even better.”
Oh hell. Do I ever know the truth of that statement.
“Wade wants you, you know,” I say.
“No, he doesn’t.” He goes back to tugging on the string.
“He’s made that perfectly clear.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
He considers my words for a moment. There is a hopeful sound
to his voice when he asks, “Did he say something?”
“No. But he doesn’t need to. It’s obvious in his reaction to
you. Whenever you’re around, he’s as tightly wound as a—”
“As a bronc behind the gate,” Connor offers, joining our
conversation as he collapses onto the blanket beside me.
“I didn’t even hear you come up,” I say, startled.
“Sorry,” Connor says, leaning forward to give me a juicy
kiss. “I was being quiet, hoping I might find you two in a compromising
position.”
Laughing, I say, “You almost did.”
Connor shoots a smug expression Dallas’s way. “You owe me
twenty bucks.”
Dallas shakes his head at Connor and picks up his fallen
hat, settling it on his head.
“What?” I ask.
“I told Dallas he wouldn’t be able to resist you.”
“You made a bet?”
“It was before I met you,” Dallas says with a twinkle in his
eye. “I pretty much despised you from the moment I heard you were coming. I
didn’t think—”
“You didn’t think there was any way in hell you’d be
attracted to her, did you?”
Dallas looks me straight in the eye when he shakes his head.
“And now,” I whisper.
“You know how I feel now,” he whispers just as softly,
scorching me with the intensity of his gaze.
“You want to fuck her, don’t you?” Connor says, kneeling
behind me, his hand coming around the front of me, undoing the top two buttons
of my shirt.
My lips are parted. I still haven’t recovered from climbing
the hill, though it is not physical exertion or altitude that’s causing my
breathlessness. It’s Connor’s body pressed up against mine from behind, it’s
his hands down the front of me and it’s Dallas’s heated gaze watching the whole
thing with the hunger of a bear eyeing some juicy morsel after a long winter’s
slumber.
Once my lacy bra is exposed, Dallas leans forward and kisses
me between my breasts. The sight of his strong, callused hands on the black
lace as he lifts my breasts from beneath is incredibly erotic.
But, as much as I want this, as much as I know all of our
playfulness today has been leading to this moment, I can’t do it. Grasping
Connors hands to keep him from finishing the last couple of buttons, I hold him
still while I slide away from Dallas’s kisses.
“What’s wrong?” Connor asks, pulling his hands from mine and
scooting around beside me.
“I can’t do this.”
Where a moment before Dallas was as readable as a storybook,
his expression closes and his features turn to stone. I go up on my knees and
cup his cheek. “It’s not that I don’t want this. Believe me, I do. I just—”
“You want Wade,” Dallas finishes for me.
“Yeah,” I say. “I want Wade…and Connor. And you.”
Dallas moves to the other end of the blanket and stares off
into the distance. “Well, that’s not going to be happening any time soon.”
“Why not?”
“We all know why.”
“Wade,” I say.
Connor grunts in frustration. “Hell. It’s not like he didn’t
have fun that first night.”
I glance at him. “So, what’s his problem?”
“He’s fucking bull-headed, that’s his problem.”
I lean back on my elbows, first thinking about the three men
together. The way my brain works, I automatically place myself somewhere in the
fantasy. With this new image—the three men and me in fully compromising
positions—playing in high definition in my brain, an idea begins to form. Wade
is bull-headed. Stubborn, stoic, uncompromising. He’s the kind of guy who’d
give up everything to help someone else. He’d even sacrifice his own happiness
if it meant happiness for another.
Despite all that, he was incredibly predictable.
“Don’t you ride bulls?” I say to Connor, interrupting their
discussion of Wade’s stubbornness.
“Nah, I’m a saddle-bronc man. Dallas, here, he’s the bull
rider.”
“Really,” I say. “And, you know how to break a horse, right?
You broke Midnight Run,” I say to Dallas.
“Sure. Connor’s broken horses too.”
I nod slowly as I reach into the food bag and grab the
sandwiches wrapped in wax paper. After distributing them I say, “You guys are
experts at riding unwieldy animals. You know how to break them. Don’t you think
it’s time we did something about Wade?”
Dallas twists his lips in a wry grimace. “It’s one thing
when it’s an animal. Quite another when it’s my boss,”
I take his hand in mine. “Leave Wade to me. I’m pretty sure
I know what the man wants but he’s too friggin’ stubborn to go for.” Glancing
at Connor with a raised brow, I say, “All I know is, if we work together, I’m
pretty sure we can break this cowboy.”
*****
Step one in breaking a cowboy? You have to catch him first.
Now, with Wade, that isn’t exactly a problem. As much as he likes to boss me
around in the bedroom, the man will do pretty much anything I ask. So I’ve left
him a note, telling him to meet us in the hot pool as soon as he’s back from
his meeting in Calgary. Little does he know that Dallas will be joining us.
Not right away of course. We have to ease him into the idea,
just like that stallion in the corral. Connor and I are sitting in the outdoor
part of the tub, a cooler of drinks beside us, watching the sunset, when Wade
arrives.
“Hey you two,” he says as he lowers himself into the pool.
“How was your day?”
“Great,” I say and I lean over and give him a kiss. He
tastes fresh and minty like he’s just brushed his teeth.
“Do you want a beer?” Connor asks.
“Of course,” Wade says after we’ve finished our kiss.
“How was your meeting?”
“Long,” Wade says, leaning back against the edge of the pool
and taking a long pull of his beer. He proceeds to sum up the meeting. Another
ranch’s bad news is good news for the Lazy L. One of the other stock providers
went out of business this winter so the rest are going to pick up the slack.
But for some reason, Wade still looks tense.
Despite the chilly April air, I sit on the ledge of the pool
behind him and start to knead his shoulders.
“Damn, Tess, that feels good,” he says. I smile and keep
massaging, thinking about what the men told me about breaking a horse. It’s
important that the animal is as relaxed as possible. I can do that.
Leaning down, I taste a bead of moisture clinging to the
side of Wade’s neck.
“Mmm,” he sighs and if I’m not mistaken, his rock hard
shoulders ease just a bit. I catch sight of Connor over his shoulder and he
smirks at me before handing me a freshly poured glass of wine.