Holt emerged with the large bowl and we sat down at the round glass table.
“How come we haven’t seen you around West Springs before?” Holt asked after we’d eaten in a contented silence for a few moments.
“Like I said last night, I’m back from college. It took a few extra years because I took time off to travel. It’s… strange to be back. I mean, this is where I want to be, but I’m trying hard to find my place as an adult, instead of a kid.”
“Yeah, that must be hard when you’re back under your parents’ roof,” I said. While I loved my family, staying with them when I returned to town to visit made me feel like I was the one who was eleven, not Ariel. The only changes my parents had made to my childhood bedroom was replacing my small twin bed with a much larger one. There were still trophies from Little League on the shelf.
“Exactly,” she replied, nibbling on a piece of feta. “Except my mom died when I was a kid. It’s just my dad who raised me and Steven.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
She waved it off as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. “It was a long time ago. But I agree with you, about coming back. I mean, I returned to the promise of running the ranch myself in the near future. Taking over as the next generation. My dad’s getting older and it will all be mine someday. I thought we’d be acting as partners. But he seems to have forgotten that I’m not sixteen anymore.”
I worked very, very hard not to say one goddamn thing about Bob Jenkins. That was because I couldn’t think of anything that was nice about the man, especially after we’d overheard how he’d berated her over us the day before.
Well, maybe one thing. He had a charming, beautiful daughter whom I was destined to spend the rest of my life with.
“You might have to fight for some autonomy, huh?” Holt said, finding more diplomacy than I was capable of.
She put her fork down and took a sip of wine. “Yes. I’ve worked at some really large ranches in Australia and Chile the past few summers. I have ideas of things we can do to streamline processes and boost profits here.”
I leaned back in my chair. The sun had cut through the trees and was lighting up her auburn hair so it glowed.
Fuck. Beautiful, ambitious, and well-traveled. Holt may have stuck closer to home, but I was pleased she knew about the world around her. It made her… open to diversity, which I hoped included shifters.
“Damn, girl. I knew you were impressive the first moment I saw you, but my appreciation just grows,” I told her. “Tell us about Australia and Chile.”
She shrugged, like international travel for a woman in her early twenties was nothing. "I wanted to see other places before I came back home. West Springs is so small, so perfect, but I wanted to see what was out there, to know what I was missing.”
I reached out, took her hand. “Think maybe what you were missing was right here all along?”
I didn’t mean her ranch.
Holt took her other hand and she looked between us, then glanced down at her plate. I could feel the quick thrum of her pulse in her wrist. This was the moment. A turning point. Something pivotal. She was smart. She knew what I was asking. What her answer meant.
“Maybe,” she whispered.
“Yeah, baby. Me, too,” I admitted, and gave her a wink.
6
ALI
“I’ve never had a date with two guys before,” I said after the three of us had finished dinner and were sitting out on the deck, enjoying our wine as we waited for the sunset. I felt oddly relaxed considering I was about to do something wild and crazy with two—yes, two—hot lawmen. These guys were the real deal. Nice and hot. I meant they were nice. And hot. But also nice and hot. Yeah, H.O.T. My pussy was telling me to do things I’d never considered until them.
“We intend to ruin you for one man for the rest of your life,” Holt declared. He’d scooted his chair up next to mine, and now he reached over and lifted me onto his lap.
Yeah, I should’ve been bothered by that, but again, my pussy liked the idea. Because if this was a one-time thing, I didn’t want to be ruined. I wanted it to be fun. Except they seemed to want more. A lot more.
Theo stood up and gathered my hair up in his fist to tug my head back. My nerve endings sizzled and shit, I liked it. “Let me have another kiss,” he practically growled.
I didn’t mind the demanding alpha male thing. Anything less wouldn’t feel masculine enough for me. Especially from these two. In fact, I was beginning to think Holt was right. Maybe I would be ruined for only one man, because apparently I wasn’t at all intimidated by the thought of handling the needs and sexual appetites of two burly men.
In fact, I was more than up for the challenge. Two mouths. Two sets of hands. Two dicks.
Theo claimed my mouth with a hot, demanding kiss, his tongue sliding between my lips as he continued to gently tug my hair. At the same time, Holt slid his hand between my legs, the same way he had back on the ranch, rubbing the seam of my jeans against my clit and setting my entire world on fire. That orgasm in the shower had done nothing to ease my need for them.
I could tell them no. I could tell them to stop. They would. They’d asked for consent before, and they knew I was giving it again. I’d tell them if I didn’t like something. Except I liked everything they did with me. So while I was the one having my hair pulled, I had all the power.
That and that alone made this whole thing even sexier.
I wanted Theo’s hold on me. I liked it. Hell, I hadn’t realized it made me hot until now. It was weird, these needs they enticed in me. I didn’t have to think about them, or question them. I only had to feel.
I squirmed, and Holt held my hips down firmly over his lap, cupping my mons while his other hand slid up my crop top. “Did I tell you how much I love this shirt of yours?” he rumbled in my ear as he squeezed one breast roughly.
“Fuck, me too,” Theo agreed, his hand traveling under the top to my other breast. He slid his fingers inside my bra cup to squeeze and tease my nipple.
“Oh.” I squirmed some more. I was already breathless, and all my clothes were on. I couldn’t imagine how hot and heavy things were going to get when we disrobed.
“I can’t wait to show Ali how much I appreciate this beautiful body of hers,” Theo said to Holt. His teeth grazed my neck.
I opened the button on my own jeans, needing more from Holt’s attention down there.
“Me neither,” Holt agreed, taking over and unzipping my jeans, then slipping a hand inside my panties.
My stomach fluttered with excitement, heat spiked in my core. My cowgirl boots were kicking—probably knocking into Holt’s shins—because I couldn’t hold still. It was all too thrilling.
“I’m going to lick every inch of her,” Holt said as his finger slid between my nether lips. “Especially down here.”
“Oh.” My pelvic floor contracted, pussy clenching on air. The thought of his mouth between my legs made my nipples ache.
As if Theo sensed it, he slid his other hand up my shirt to cup and knead both breasts simultaneously. At the same time, Holt sank a finger inside me.
My cry was loud and wanton.
I quickly looked around, suddenly aware of our surroundings, of what we were doing and where. “You don’t have any neighbors close by, do you?” I asked. There was something hot about making out on the deck at sunset, but I didn’t want to embarrass myself.