by Jane Jamison
She pressed her fingertips to her lips. If she had a choice, would she want a relationship with each of them? Did that mean they’d share her bed one at time? Or all at once? The idea astounded her as much as it intrigued her.
She could already imagine them caressing her body, using their callused hands to explore every hill and valley while their tongues slid over her, pleasuring her as only they could. Travis with his quick smile would be fun in bed. Tucker with his dark, soulful eyes could drive her to a climax with a single look. And Cort? After the kiss they’d shared, she knew he’d be incredible between the sheets.
But what about professionalism? What would people say if they knew? Did she want to risk her job, her only means of support and shelter, by having a fling with her bosses? She shook the errant ideas away. Why was she even thinking this way? Because of one kiss?
Yet Cort had said fate would’ve brought them together. Did she believe in fate? She’d always thought that a person made her own destiny. Did he mean they were soul mates? Not just she and Cort but all four of them? Was the concept of soul mates even possible, especially with more than one person? And if so, how could she know these men were hers?
“There they are.”
She followed Cort’s nod and saw Travis herding a few cows off the road and into the pasture. Tucker was busy stretching the barbed wire over the break in the fence to attach it to the post. Although not a large area, the hole was big enough that a few cows had managed to pry their way to freedom. Cort pulled the pickup onto the shoulder of the road.
“What do you want me to do?”
He scanned the area then pointed back down the road. “I didn’t see any on the way, but I need you to give it a better check. There’s always one stray that gets off by itself and ends up God knows where. Go down about a mile then come on back. If you find one, give a holler and we’ll come running.”
He hopped out of the pickup and waited for her to join him. Buster jumped out of the back and started toward Travis until Cort gave him a quick whistle. The dog whirled around and came to his side. “Buster, you stay with Kate.”
“With me?”
“If you find one, he’ll help you run it this way. Or at the very least, he’ll keep it cornered until we can get there.”
Kate started to ask another question, but Cort was already striding toward the cattle milling on the other side of the road. As Travis waved down a vehicle coming toward them, Cort hollered at the cows and beat his hat against his leg. The cows grunted and mooed but grouped together to head toward the entry to the pasture.
“Okay, Buster, I guess it’s just you and me.” Kate started back down the road and scanned the land around them. Although most of the land was fenced, a few places of green grass were accessible from the road. She hurried on, avoiding the water puddles left by a previous rain.
She held out her hand to pet the dog, but Buster was all business. Following his example, she shielded her eyes from the sun and searched the horizon.
The sound of an animal in distress had her turning her head to the left. A small cow yanked its leg but couldn’t pull it free of its muddy trap. Mud surrounded the small patch of grass he’d wandered onto, and Kate scowled as she took in the scene.
“If I get my new shoes covered in mud, I’m putting it in as an expense for reimbursement. Come on. Let’s get him, Buster.”
She waved her hand as she’d seen Cort do when he’d given an order to the dog. Buster padded over to the cow and circled it. But having Buster bark at the stuck cow didn’t make things any better. The cow’s wild eyes grew rounder as the dog surrounded it.
“Damn it. Back off, Buster. You’re scaring him even more.” She edged toward the muddy patch then bent low to see what held the cow’s leg. Not seeing anything, she inched closer still, her new running shoes touching the tip of the mud puddle.
“I am not getting in that mess.” She glanced at the road but didn’t see the guys or the pickup. Taking a deep breath, she called out, using first Cort’s name, then his friends’ names. Trying to listen for a reply over the cow’s wails was impossible.
The cow wasn’t going anywhere, but could she wait for the men to show up in time? The cow jerked on its leg and grew even more agitated. Buster sat down and waited for her command.
“Don’t look at me. I don’t know what to do.” She grimaced as the cow let out another mournful sound. “Do you think it’s hurt? What if it hurts itself even more before they get here?”
She studied the black eyes of the dog but saw nothing. “A big help you turned out to be.”
Taking a deep breath, she made the decision she’d tried so hard not to make. “Fine. I know I’m going to regret this, but I’m going in.” She stepped into the mud then froze as the yucky mess oozed over the side of her shoe. Slimy mud sneaked between her toes and under the arch of her foot.
Curse words flew around in her head even as she started talking softly to the cow. “It’s okay, sweetie. I’m going to get you unstuck. Don’t you worry. Auntie Kate is here. Don’t bite me, okay?” Bending over, she ran her hand down the length of the cow’s front left leg then slid her hand into the mud to find its hoof. She grimaced as the mud swallowed her hand and arm. Somehow the cow had wedged its foot into a crack in the ground. But how would she get its foot out?
Grabbing hold with both hands, she tugged as hard as she could, but the cow’s leg didn’t budge. Her hands were covered in mud as well as her feet and ankles, but all she could think about now was getting the cow free.
“One last try, okay? How about giving me a little help here? You pull with me and maybe we’ll get somewhere.” Taking a deep breath, she took the cow’s leg again and yanked as hard as she could. Buster barked at the same time, scaring the cow, who tried its best to get away. The cow backed up, pulling its leg free and taking Kate along with it. She didn’t have time to cry out as the momentum of the cow thrust her backward. She landed with a sickening splat on her butt.
“Damn you, you stupid beast!” Kate glared at the animal as mud seeped over and under her clothes and into every place the sun never saw.
“From where I’m standing, I’m thinking the cow’s the smart one. She’s free, and you’re sitting in the middle of a mud patch.”
Kate gasped, closed her eyes, then struggled to stand up. She faced them, Travis, Tucker, and Cort. Travis faked a cough to hide his laughter, but Tucker and Cort didn’t bother hiding their shit-eating grins as they leaned on the pickup.
“Argh! Why didn’t you tell me you were there?” She stomped out of the mud toward them.
“And miss the show? No way. Hey!” Travis hurried away from her as she darted at him, her muddy hands raised in front of her.
“Come back here and get what you deserve!”
Tucker slapped the cow on its rear and herded it down the road with Buster nipping at the cow’s heels to get it to keep moving. Travis stood behind Cort, using his friend as a shield.
“We don’t want any trouble, Kate. But you’re going to have to ride home in the back.”
“In the back? With Buster?” She couldn’t believe Travis was serious.
“Naw. We wouldn’t want Buster to get muddy. He’ll ride in the cab with me.” Cort motioned to the back of the pickup then backed away as she tromped over and climbed onto the tailgate.
“Hey, Kate?”
“Yeah?” She ground out the word she so wanted to follow with a cuss word.
“Don’t go into the house. We’ll have to hose you off in the yard first.”
* * * *
Not very many women would look good with their ass covered in mud, but Kate did. At least not without rolling in mud with another woman. She was mad enough to spit bullets along with being a little embarrassed, but the combination was sexy as hell. Travis could still see her pulling herself out of the mud and skulking over to the pickup. She’d gotten into the bed of the pickup without another word, but the muscles in her jaw were clenched so tight he worried that she migh
t break a tooth.
If he could’ve traded his horse for the vehicle he would’ve done it, but Cort wasn’t giving that up for anything. Instead, he clucked to his horse and gave it an easy kick to get it galloping across the pasture. If luck was on his side, he’d make it back in time to see her stomp into the house. He’d only told her to hop in the back as a joke, so he was darn sure going to see if Cort had enough balls to actually make her get washed off in the yard.
Too bad Tucker was going to miss everything, but someone had to finish repairing the fence. The temporary work would hold until they could fix it properly.
The pickup was rolling up to the house at the same moment he pulled on the reins, hopped off his mount, and wrapped the reins around the hitching post at the side of the house. Taking long strides and trying not to run, he rounded the corner of the house to find Cort and Kate face to face, their silence a sign that they were ready to go at it, toe to toe.
“Is everything okay here?”
Cort and Kate each shot him a glare then turned their attentions back on each other. Kate had planted her feet apart as though ready to take on the cowboy who was double her size. Cort crossed his arms and blocked her way into the house. Buster sat on the steps of the front porch like a spectator who’d bought the best tickets to the biggest prizefight of the year.
“I’m going to get cleaned up inside.”
“Like I said, Kate, we don’t do that around here. Everyone gets hosed off outside and then strips in the mudroom. Did your mother raise you in a barn or what?”
Travis winced at Cort even though he had a suspicion Cort was playing with her. But Kate took his words seriously. Her eyes flashed with anger.
“Don’t bring my mother into this. And if you think I’m going to strip my clothes off downstairs and run naked up to my room, you’re dead wrong.” She tried to go around Cort, but he moved to block her way.
Cort was taking the joke too far. True enough, the men cleaned up outside and left their dirty clothes in the mudroom. They’d learned early on that it was better to make as little mess as possible inside the house. Mrs. Martinez, the woman who came in once a month to do a thorough cleaning, had trained them well. But the standoff between Cort and Kate couldn’t last much longer.
“How about a compromise?”
Cort swiveled his way, but Kate kept her glare focused on his friend. “What do you have in mind?”
He walked over to Kate, taking care not to get too close. Right now, he’d rather have gotten up close and personal to a grizzly bear. “How about it if Kate gets hosed down outside, but”—he held up a finger as she pivoted toward him and leveled her laser-like glare at him—“we let her keep her clothes on to run through the house. She’ll have to mop up the water she leaves behind. How’s that sound?”
The two combatants gave his suggestion some thought. Cort was the first to agree, but Kate soon followed.
“I never thought a personal assistant position meant I’d have to pull a cow out of a mud hole.” Kate shook her hands and let the mud fly. Cort backed away and started kicking off his muddy boots.
“The job entails a little bit of everything we do around here. Hey, you did a good thing. If you hadn’t gotten her out of the hole, she might’ve injured herself and we’d have had to put her down. As it stands now, she’s fine and back with the herd.”
Travis walked over to get the garden hose. He twisted the water knob on and a burst of water spurted out. Pulling the length of it onto the porch, he shucked off his boots and socks and started washing the mud off them. “Cort, you’re up.”
He passed the hose to Cort and barefooted it to stand by the front door. Cort did the same then tossed his boots and socks onto the sunlit part of the porch to let them dry. “Here you go, Kate.”
Her gaze traveled from their boots to her body. “I’ll leave my shoes out here to dry, but nothing else is coming off. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Cort and Travis chimed in together.
“Okay then.” She stepped onto the porch then off to the left of the men. Sunlight drenched her as she toed off her mud-caked running shoes and washed them. Throwing them to join the men’s boots, she turned the hose onto her jeans. Her legs were soaked in a couple of minutes, and she continued working the stream of water up her body and onto her white T-shirt.
Travis and Cort exchanged a quick glance then brought their attention back to the show. Water flowed over her cotton shirt, drenching it. Her tanned skin underneath the thin material showed through and left nothing to the imagination. Her drenched T-shirt stuck to her breasts, outlining their perfect symmetry. Although she wore a bra, they could see the outline of her taut nipples. She lifted her shirt, stuck the hose under the shirt, and washed off the bits of mud that had dried on her skin.
She was giving them a show worthy of winning any wet T-shirt contest. Travis started to tell her, but Cort caught him. With a punch on the arm, Cort made it clear that he should keep his mouth shut.
She pivoted around and craned her head to see her bottom. Mud covered both cheeks, and she held the hose and tried to wipe off the gunk.
“Here. Let me help you get the mud off your butt.” Cort reached for the hose, and, after pausing a moment, she handed it to him. “Stand still while I get this stuff off you.”
Travis tracked a hand through his hair and smothered a moan as Cort skimmed his hand over her butt, wiping off the drying mud while getting a good feel of her rounded bottom.
“Aren’t you finished yet?” She glanced over her shoulder at Travis.
“Almost. Just a little bit more.” Cort used his thumb to turn the flow of water into a spray and shot it between her legs.
She jumped then whipped around to take the hose from him. “Hey, watch it.”
Tucker came around the side of the house and slammed to a stop. “Uh, what’s going on?”
Kate kept the water flowing down the front of her shirt. “I’m getting cleaned up. We compromised. I’ll get washed out here but keep my clothes on to run to my room.”
“Kate. I think they’re playing a joke on you.”
“Damn it, Tucker, keep your yap closed.”
“No, he’s right, Cort. We should’ve told her.”
“Told me what?” Kate followed Tucker’s nod and lowered her gaze to the front of her T-shirt. Her mouth fell open as she raised her head and shot them a killer glare. “You’ve got to be kidding.” Slinging the hose at Travis and Cort, she pushed past them and bolted into the house.
“Are you guys trying to get her to quit on her first day?” Tucker stormed by them, giving Travis a hard shove.
Cort laughed as he followed Tucker into the house. “He’s right, you know. We’re acting like a couple of hormonal teenagers. We should apologize.”
“I don’t think so. She’s got to get used to our warped sense of humor if she’s going to stay. And she’s going to stay. I knew it from the first second I laid eyes on her. She’s ours, and I’ll bet she knows it, too.”
“You’re right. But it doesn’t have to happen in the first few hours she’s here.” Travis bounded up the stairs to his room, located next to the guest room they’d given Kate. He paused outside her bedroom door, listened, but couldn’t hear her even with his sensitive werewolf hearing. He moved on and went into his bedroom.
* * * *
Kate peeled off her wet clothes, hung them on the hook on the back of the door, then turned on the shower. She checked to see if there was a bar of soap, tested the water, and stepped into the shower. Warm water struck her in the face as she laid her head back. The heat of the water soothed her body, but it could do only so much for her state of mind. She’d arrived at Moonlight Ranch only hours ago, and already she’d had a sexual encounter with one of the men and was lusting after the others.
She touched a finger to her lips. Had kissing Cort ignited a fire inside her she hadn’t realized had burned out? Even now she could remember how his lips felt. Although warm water ran in rivers along the cur
ves of her body, she shivered just thinking of Cort’s arms around her. He was forceful, dominating her with his touch and with his words. She’d never liked men who seemed too strong, ones that wanted to dominate her, but he was different. He’d controlled her, but she’d sensed he’d acted that way because it was meant to be.
He’d made her feel like the only woman in the world. He’d taken her and possessed her with only a kiss.
Then when Cort and Travis had watched her, their hot gazes locked onto her wet T-shirt, she’d experienced yet another rush of fire between her legs. Travis with his bluer-than-blue eyes and Cort with his sultry dark ones had raked their gazes over her body, stirring both emotions and desire. Then there was Tucker. His soulful eyes and his longing looks had caught her unprepared for the onslaught of feelings he spurred inside her.
What had happened? In less than a day, she’d found three men, each one as sexy as the last. Whenever she caught them looking at her, stealing glances when they thought she wouldn’t notice, her heart pounded and her mouth dried up. She wanted them, and it was more than obvious that they wanted her.
She ran her hands through her hair then soaped her skin with the wash towel hanging on the shower bar. She should grab her bag and leave as soon as she got cleaned up. That’s what her father and every other person she knew would tell her. She’d hired on to do a job, not to play with three cowboy gods. If she was the professional she wanted to be, she’d get the hell out of Forever and never look back.
But could she? She positioned her body under the shower to wash off the soap. Cort had said her coming to the ranch was no mistake. Was it really fate? Or had they had a bigger hand in it, more than hiring her for a job? She peeked around the curtain, her nerves playing her.
