Boots Optional

by Nicole Edwards

  Yes. Yes. A lot. Yes. What?

  Those were his answers. It had been a long day of single word responses and now he was all talked out.

  But that had just been the introductory discussion. From that point on, the ladies had pummeled him with more outlandish questions. And by the end of the ride, he just wanted to sneak off by himself which was a first for him. Lane always enjoyed taking the guests out, spending time with them. Sharing dinner afterward. He’d even been known to take a few of the hotties on midnight rides – without the horse.

  “Have you seen Grant?”

  Lane spun around to see Gracie walking toward him at a fast clip. The anger that radiated from her was palpable, yet it didn’t mar the perfection that was her face.

  Goddamn the woman was pretty.

  They all were. Grace, Hope, Trinity, Mercy and Faith. All five of the Lambert sisters had been blessed with beauty beyond reason. They took after their mother, thank God. Good ol’ Jerry wasn’t a bad looking man, but he’d make a damn ugly woman.

  “No,” Lane told her as he braced himself for impact. She looked like she was ready to throw down with him right there in the dirt. She didn’t seem to care that he was at least twice her size.

  “Well, you tell him…”

  Gracie didn’t finish her sentence, but he could tell she had a few choice words for Grant. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides and she was biting her bottom lip. And damn it all to hell, Lane’s cock was paying attention.

  “Tell him what?” Lane asked, curious as to what the problem was.

  “Never mind,” she bit out.

  When she went to stomp away, Lane found himself doing something he’d rarely ever done before. At least not intentionally. He actually touched her and it wasn’t just an innocent brush of his arm against hers either. As if in slo-mo, Lane reached out and placed his hand on her arm, her warm skin so much softer and smoother than he anticipated. When she turned to face him, he jerked his hand back as though he’d been burned.

  Okay, so he had always been attracted to her, but then again, what man wouldn’t be? She was gorgeous. Long blonde hair, perfect bow-shaped lips, a tight, compact little body, and those smiling eyes. Yes, even when she didn’t want to, her eyes seemed to smile. No matter how angry the woman tried to be at him or Grant, she always seemed to be secretly thinking about something else. Something that amused her.

  But right now, her eyes weren’t smiling. They were wide as she stared back at him, glancing down briefly to look at the place where he’d touched her arm and then back up to him.

  Did she feel it too? Whatever that weird electrical charge was? Surely not. That was only something they spouted about in those racy books Gracie’s older sister Hope liked to read.

  “What’s goin’ on?”

  Oh, hell. Lane looked up to see Grant making his way over and he knew that the shit was about to hit the fan.

  And this time he was going to be the one to sit back and watch the action.

  □●□●□●□

  “Grant Kingsley, you are a first-class asshole!” Grace shouted. She hoped like hell her daddy wasn’t around because he was going to be pissed at the language she used, but she couldn’t help herself.

  After what Grant did… The nerve!

  “What’s wrong?” Grant asked, looking sincerely perplexed about her outrage.

  “How dare you write something like that on that paper?”

  Grant’s face contorted from worry to amusement right before her very eyes. “Did you like that?”

  “My sister did! She found it quite amusing, thank you very much.”

  The blasted man had the decency to blush.

  “Oh, shit.”

  “‘Oh, shit’ is right,” Grace spat back at him. “Now Faith thinks we’ve got something going on and she won’t leave me alone about it.” Upon reading Grant’s clearly vulgar list of things he needed from town, Faith had a field day giving Grace shit about it.

  “What did it say?” Lane asked, a huge grin on his too handsome face.

  “You don’t want to know,” Grace told him snidely as she turned her attention back to Grant. “How dare you do that?”

  “You were supposed to be the one to read it, Gracie. Not your sister.”

  “Well, she was more than happy to read it to me. Let’s see if I remember it correctly. One: condoms. Two boxes, please. And the please was underlined. Two: chocolate syrup. And you even gave me delivery instructions. What was it? I was supposed to deliver those items to your cabin. Naked,” Grace huffed before she continued, “Was that all? Did I leave something out?”

  “Wine.”

  “What?”

  “You forgot the wine. That was the first thing on the list. The condoms were number two.”

  Grace stared at him incredulously. Did he really think this was funny?

  “Come on, Gracie. It was supposed to be a joke,” Grant told her as he once again looked to be trying to hide his smile.

  “So not funny,” she told him.

  “Why didn’t you read it before you gave it to her?” Grant asked.

  “Because I didn’t expect that!”

  “If you had, would you have read it?” Lane asked.

  Grace turned her attention to him. “No. I wouldn’t have.” Okay, so maybe she would have, but they didn’t need to know that. In truth, she had forgotten all about the list until Faith told her she needed to run into town. It was then that she remembered Grant’s morning request, so she’d handed off the letter not realizing it was going to come back and bite her in the ass.

  She was so pissed. Mainly because Faith had gone on and on about the fact that Grant Kingsley wanted her in his bed. Grace had endured the atrocious “Gracie and Grant, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” from her twenty-five year old little sister.

  It had been one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. Luckily, it had been Faith who had volunteered to go into town and not her dad. Christ, she didn’t even want to think about what that would’ve been like. Her father would’ve skinned Grant alive and strung him up on the front gate as a warning to the rest of the cowboys on the ranch.

  Unable to look at either of them any longer, Grace turned and stormed off. She wasn’t hungry anymore. Not that she’d come looking for food in the first place. She’d been in search of Grant. And now that she’d found him and given him a piece of her mind, she was done.

  So done.

  “Gracie, wait!” Grant called.

  “Dude, let her go.” Lane’s voice sounded far away.

  Good, maybe he’d keep Grant there with him.

  At least one of them had some common sense.

  □●□●□●□

  Grant knew he should probably be ashamed based on Gracie’s reaction to his note. Or more importantly, the fact that Faith, Gracie’s little sister, had read it.

  He wasn’t. Ashamed.

  Then again, he was tired of this damn chase. He knew that his list didn’t come as a surprise to her. He’d first started by asking her out. Several times over the last two years. She always played it off as if he were joking.

  He wasn’t.

  Not one bit.

  Bet be damned.

  “Hold up. Where are you going?” Lane asked, his hand landing on Grant’s shoulder, effectively pulling him back.

  Hell, Grant hadn’t even realized he’d started walking.

  “I’ve got to go talk to her.”

  “Not right now you don’t.”

  “Yes, I do. I’ve got to calm her down.”

  “Man,” Lane laughed, “I don’t think that’s possible. Not unless maybe we sandwich her between us and–”

  Grant’s eyes opened wide as Lane cut off his words midsentence.

  “Oh, hell. Would you look at that? It’s time for dinner,” Lane said quickly and turned toward the main house.

  It was Grant’s turn to stop him. But he didn’t touch him. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. “What did you say?”<
br />
  “Shit.” Lane dropped his head, but he didn’t turn back to face Grant.

  They stood there in silence for a moment, the sun falling just beneath the hills on the west side of the ranch. Damn, it was getting late. Summer in Texas meant the days were long. And hot. Unfortunately, these days, his nights were just as long, but definitely not hot. Not unless you counted last Friday night but even that midnight heatwave hadn’t lasted but a few minutes.

  Lane turned slowly and Grant kept his eyes on him. He was met with an expression he didn’t recognize on Lane’s face. Regret, maybe?

  With his voice lowered to a barely audible volume, Lane asked, “Do you not remember anything from last Friday? Anything we talked about? Anything we did?”

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  Grant didn’t break the eye contact. He held his breath. He knew exactly what Lane was referring to and goddammit, yes, he remembered it. He remembered everything. He wasn’t nearly as drunk as he’d pretended to be.

  “That’s what I thought,” Lane ground out, his eyes narrowing. “I’ll catch you later.”

  “Wait,” Grant growled before Lane turned away. “Just fucking wait.”

  Lane didn’t move. Neither did Grant. They just stood there staring at one another for the longest time. Grant had no idea what to say. He was confused. Consumed by a mix of fear and anticipation, longing and dread.

  “Will y’all just kiss already and get it over with?”

  Grant’s head snapped in the direction of the woman walking toward them as though his neck were made of rubber. Lane’s did, too.

  “Oh, come on,” Mercy teased. “We all see it. You might as well just get it over with. Ain’t like this is Brokeback Mountain or some shit. We couldn’t be more pro equality for all if we flew a rainbow flag next to the Texas flag at the gate.” Mercy laughed.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Grant asked, unable to keep the dangerous tone from his voice.

  He should’ve expected such a cheap shot from Mercy. Of the five Lambert sisters, she was the troublemaker.

  “Lighten up. I’m teasin’,” she said sweetly as she moved up close to them. “I’ve seen the way you boys look at Gracie. If it weren’t for that, I’d think you two have a thing for each other. Y’all comin’ to dinner?” Mercy had apparently moved on and was turning toward the house.

  “Yeah, we’ll be there in a minute,” Lane offered, rotating to stand on Grant’s side so he could look directly at Mercy, too.

  “See ya.” With that, they both watched Mercy walk away.

  “I gotta go talk to Gracie,” Grant said, not bothering to look at Lane. He wasn’t in a position to explain anything right now and this wasn’t the time or place to get into a conversation about what had happened last Friday night.

  “I’m coming with you.”

  “No. You’re not,” Grant argued. “I’ve got to apologize.”

  Lane leveled his gaze on Grant, making him feel every ounce of the pure alpha he knew Lane to be. “I am.”

  Grant couldn’t argue further. Not when Lane looked at him like that. Not when this man made him want things that he’d been denying himself for far too long as it was.

  Chapter Three

  Grace slammed her front door hard enough to rattle the windows.

  Standing just inside the living room of her small, one bedroom cabin, she took a deep breath.

  Damn that man!

  Truthfully, she wasn’t really sure why she was so pissed. Except it gave her a damn good reason to put distance between the cowboy who had plagued her dreams for the last few months. She hadn’t wanted Grant to show up and torment her in her sleep; that much she knew for sure. But he had anyway. Sort of like the living, breathing man, the dream version of Grant Kingsley was just as persistent. And just like the real man, he made her ache.

  That didn’t explain – AT ALL – why Lane Miller had shown up in her dreams as well starting several months ago. And there was that one dream where she actually kissed them both. Right there while they’d been sitting in her living room.

  Like she would ever let them in her house.

  Bang. Bang. Bang.

  Grace nearly jumped out of her skin as the pounding on her front door rattled her teeth.

  “Open the door, Gracie.”

  “No,” she bit out obstinately, turning to face the door as though she could see Grant through the wood.

  “It’s not a request, darlin’.”

  That had her grabbing the doorknob and flinging the door open ready to blast him with what she thought about being told what to do.

  “That’s what I thought.”

  Grant was holding the screen door open and he stepped right inside as if he owned the place. And before she could shut the door on him, Lane was right behind him, one big hand holding the door open so that neither of them would receive a splinter in their face.

  “What the fuck?” Taking two steps back, she stared at the two men looming over her.

  The door closed behind Lane.

  “Such a mouth,” Lane said teasingly.

  “Fuck off.”

  Lane took a step toward her, closing the distance between them, and Grace had to strain her neck to look up at him. He was at least a foot taller than she was and standing so close, he blocked her view of anything else.

  “Such dirty words for such a pretty girl,” Lane whispered, his voice dangerously close to seductive.

  Grace didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. Her breath was lodged in her chest the moment Lane’s warm fingers came up and caressed her cheek.

  “There it is again,” he mumbled absently.

  “What?”

  Lane took a step back while shaking his head, his hand dropping to his side as he stared at her like she’d sprouted a horn from her head.

  “Gracie,” Grant said. She looked his way in time to see his eyes bouncing between the two of them curiously. “We… No, I came over to apologize.”

  “Not necessary,” she said breathlessly. Damn it.

  “It is.”

  “No. It’s not. Now if you’ll just go. I’d like to…” Go to bed.

  She definitely wasn’t going to say that with these two standing there. Lord knew where they’d take that innocent comment. And she apparently didn’t have the wherewithal to deal with either of them at the moment because she was trying to filter her thoughts.

  “Gracie,” Grant said her name again and she turned the full brunt of her frustration on him.

  “Grant. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to play your stupid games, all right. I don’t need you,” she tilted her head toward Lane, “or him fucking with me right now. I get it. I haven’t had a date in… God. I don’t know how long it’s been, but I don’t need your pity. I don’t need…”

  Grace stopped talking as Grant stalked toward her. He was big and powerful and… So damn hot.

  “Does this feel like pity?” Grant asked as he pressed up against her. He wasn’t trying to intimidate her, but he was obviously attempting to make his presence known.

  Message received. Loud. And. Clear.

  “This damn sure ain’t about pity, Gracie. And I am going to apologize. I didn’t know your sister would read that list. It was meant for your eyes only. As a joke. And yeah, so maybe you’d get that I’m serious.”

  “Serious? Telling me to bring condoms and chocolate syrup to your house and deliver them naked, mind you… That’s what you consider serious?”

  “No, this is.”

  Grant kissed her.

  And holy crap, her body ignited right there in the middle of her living room, the smoke could probably be seen for miles. He kissed her and kissed her and… Oh, God. She was kissing him back.

  By the time Grant pulled back, Grace had shamelessly slid her hands into his hair, knocking his hat askew.

  “Tell me you didn’t feel that,” Grant stated roughly, when he pulled away, his blue eyes boring right into her.

  Grace was tempted to pretend
she had no idea what he was talking about, but yeah… She came up blank.

  □●□●□●□

  “I felt it,” Lane offered when the only thing he could hear was the roar in his own ears from watching the two of them kiss. The rumble of his blood through his veins was even louder than their combined labored breaths.

  Neither of them paid him any attention.

  Fuck.

  He knew he should turn around. He should just open the door, walk out into the warm June night, and forget all of the urges he had right at that moment.

  Like the urge to kiss Gracie.

  Or the urge to kiss Grant.

  Oh, fuck.

  Gracie must’ve found her wits because she pushed Grant away as she managed to put at least a foot between herself and either of them. “Why’d you do that?” The exasperation in her tone was enough to push Grant back a step. Lane held his ground. At least for now she wasn’t aiming her ire at him.

  “I’ve wanted to do that for a long damn time, Gracie.” Grant’s tone was serious. Lane could tell the man was not playing games.

  Then again, he knew just what that felt like, because last Friday night, Grant had looked at him the exact same way right before he’d damn near blown Lane’s mind with a kiss to rival all kisses. It didn’t matter that Lane had been the one to instigate that explosive lip lock.

  And yep, Lane would be the first to admit, he’d had more than his fair share of kisses. From men and women alike. He was bisexual, he didn’t discriminate, and no, thanks to more than enough shit in his life, he’d spent years not being all that particular about who he spent his time with.

  Until he started working at Dead Heat Ranch.

  Since then he’d changed. A lot.

  And yes, a lot of it had to do with these two people standing right there in front of him.