by Lynn Stark
“Yes, he does,” Merck agreed, his body stiff with anger. “Now tell me who attacked you.”
“It was some lowlife at a small rodeo in Colorado. He didn’t like what I had to say about how he was treating his bulls. He stunned me with a cattle prod to the stomach and threw me in with one of his bulls, an animal he had just finished tormenting with the same cattle prod.”
As Piper finished talking she became lost in the unpleasant memories. She looked at the bull in the pen. Danger was all but stamped on his forehead in bright red letters. Even though they were huge and mean, they didn’t deserve to be mistreated.
“I want his name,” Jace told her in unyielding tones, anger seeming to simmer from his every pore.
Merck wasn’t much better. She looked from one to the other. She knew her attacker’s name but she had wisely kept it to herself, though she knew a reasonably intelligent person could discover it. She just wasn’t going to be the one to add fuel to the flames.
“Piper, give me his name.” Merck towered over her, a fierce scowl on his face.
“No.” She turned away and stepped around Jace, getting closer to the fence and Sunshine ‘n’ Roses. The bull predictably butted the thick rail with his head, a blunted horn poking through. She stayed back, but she offered her hand. He snorted as the men stood close beside her. “You guys will just get yourself in trouble. Besides, he got more than a year in jail. He’s still there.”
“What are you doing? He’s not a pet.”
“He’s my bull.”
“How do you figure?” Merck was amazed as well as distracted.
“Were you getting me a present when we get married?”
“Well, I suppose I was. I hadn’t given it much thought.” He now looked sheepish, and then added quickly, “Yet. There’s still plenty of time.”
“You’re just digging the hole deeper, baby. You should stop,” Jace told Merck.
“You didn’t think beyond getting in my pants, did you?” she accused, her eyes narrowing on him. He had the grace to blush as Jace chuckled. She spun around to pin him with the same knowing stare. “You’re no better, buster. What were you planning on giving me for a wedding present?”
“I was thinking a nice, pretty cow to go with your big, ugly bull?” He grinned, thoroughly pleased with his answer, brawny arms folded across his wide chest. Just the sight of it made her insides get all warm and tingly.
Piper couldn’t help it. She laughed and turned back to Sunshine. She liked joking around with her men. She held out her hand again. A moment later a square, leathery nose was pushed between the railings and a long, slimy tongue wriggled around until she gave him her hand to lick. It was wet, it was gooey, but it was also fun. She didn’t know why, but she loved being licked by the bovine species.
“That’s just gross,” Merck told her. “I’ve lived on a ranch my whole life and I’ve never done that.”
“Then you don’t know what you’re missing,” she joked, smiling up at him. His handsome face had a look of disgust on it.
“Hey, Piper, I’ll let you do that to my cock.”
“I just bet you would.” Taking a chance, she reached out slowly and touched Sunshine’s nose with her free hand. “You’re just misunderstood,” she told him softly.
That set Merck off again and Piper just smiled as she said good-bye to her new friend and led the way out of the barn. She had to get to work, but hoped to have enough time to stop to get some new clothes before she got to the spa and help center.
“Piper, bulls are not misunderstood. They’re not one of your silly monkeys. Remember that.”
A half hour later Merck was still going on about her affection for the dangerous animal. She wasn’t stupid. She had firsthand experience as to how dangerous they were. But he seemed to have forgotten about the man who had attacked her and that was good enough for her at the moment. She really didn’t want either man to do something, like go find him after he got out of jail. That wouldn’t be good at all. She wasn’t reassured by the fact that they would stay out of trouble when Jace was now wearing a gun at his waist.
Once they were at the help center she dashed into the bathroom to change into the lime-green T-shirt and jeans she had just bought at the department store on the square. It hadn’t been open yet, but Merck had seen the owner in the coffee shop when they stopped there and asked for a favor. Ten minutes later she was filling their arms with clothes to get her through a few more days.
“You didn’t buy anything sexy,” Jace complained once they got to the help center. “It’s just a bunch of boring jeans, shirts, and granny panties.”
Piper laughed and brushed her hair. She put the brush back in her large, functional handbag before locking it in her desk drawer.
“They’re practical.”
“They’re ugly.”
Both men followed her through as she turned on lights and checked the display rack for all the pamphlets she had for those visiting the help center with their pets. Everything looked good and satisfied that the center was ready, she hurried next door to the spa. The two employees scheduled for the morning were there, smiling and looking eager to begin their day.
They went around with Piper and they discussed procedures. It was something they had done before at a previous meeting but it never hurt to polish up the finer points. When she was satisfied everything was ready she went and flipped the small sign which proclaimed the business open.
While they were waiting for the first client to appear, Jace took off to get coffee and donuts for the employees. They had put it off until after she had gotten to work. Piper had said it would really look bad if the boss was late for the first day. Merck stayed behind to guard her.
The first client arrived ten minutes later. It was a small mixed breed dog with big brown eyes and a scruffy brown-and-white coat. His “mother” fussed over him, begging him to be good, and promising she wouldn’t be late to pick him up. She hugged and kissed the dog before leaving the spa with tears ruining her mascara.
There were no more tears after that, only dogs brought by their owners for a day of pampering and play. By noon six more dogs and two cats had arrived. Two of the dogs were taken to wait for baths and brush-outs by the groomer she had hired. The cats went to small “rooms.” Each had a cat tree and plenty of toys and a bed to snuggle in. They had access to a perch in the window and after a few minutes of creeping suspiciously around the room and sniffing, they both relaxed enough to go look out the window. The afternoon brought more dogs, their owners wanting their “babies” to have some playtime with other dogs while they went shopping and ran other errands.
While Piper didn’t expect the help center to be overly busy, seeing it more as a resource for the citizens of Silver to visit, she was both surprised and pleased to have several people show up to take advantage of the low-cost spay and neuter program. The pets would get a complete health check at a lowered cost. By the time the owners left with the paperwork and their appointment card for the vet, she felt as if her hopes could truly be realized. She wanted to help people and she wanted to help animals. The help center would give her that. The doggie spa would give her an income. It wouldn’t make her rich, but that didn’t matter.
By the time the last client was picked up at six o’clock Piper was more than ready to go home and soak in the tub. The teenager whom had come in to work the afternoon shift helped clean, disinfecting and sweeping while she worked on the computer. Merck had left hours earlier, needing to work on his ranch, leaving Jace to be her bodyguard once again.
“I can do the computer work, if you want,” Jace offered, brushing her hair away from her face as he stepped around the counter. Piper tipped her head back and looked up at him. “You had a pretty good first day.”
“Yes, it was a good one.”
They were about to lock up for the night when the front door to the spa burst open and Mink came in, a panicked expression on his handsome face. He was holding a large cardboard box, the lid of which
was open, flapping as he ran.
“Sis! I found this outside. It shouldn’t be outside. Anything could have happened. The poor bunny looks so sad. Can I have it? Please? They couldn’t have wanted it if they just left it outside, could they? Can I have it?”
Piper blinked, staring at her brother. Jace coughed, obviously covering a laugh. She was amazed by two things. The first was that Mink had never called her anything but Piper before. The second was she didn’t think he had taken a breath that whole time and was talking so fast she could barely understand him.
“There’s a rabbit in there?” She moved forward as he tipped the rather large box. She had expected to see a small rabbit huddled in fear in the corner. What she saw was a rabbit the size of a cocker spaniel, maybe larger. She chuckled. It was a Flemish giant, the largest of the domestic rabbit breeds. “Oh, what a sweetheart!” Then she sobered and looked at her brother. “You said you found it outside the help center?”
Mink nodded. In the past few weeks he had been letting his hair grow out, just getting the ends trimmed off until he now had a head full of black hair. It changed his appearance significantly. He had been good looking before but now he a sizzling hot guy, which was probably not a good thing for a sister to think, but it was still true.
“Yeah, it was right outside the front door.”
“I can’t believe it!” She threw up her hands in exasperation. “They could have walked right in here and surrendered the rabbit without a problem. Now I have to report it and if they’re caught they’ll have to go to court, pay fines, and maybe do jail time. They didn’t even have the decency to put water and food in with it.” She sighed. “I explained all this in the newspaper article I was interviewed for. And it’s on the front door in bold red letters. Why can’t people just do the right thing?”
Jace’s big hand rubbed her shoulders comfortingly. “It’ll be okay. You did what you could. It was the owner’s responsibility to surrender their pet in the right way.”
Mink was scowling now. With his arched black brows and high cheekbones, he looked rather wicked. The small black goatee on his chin just added to the effect. “He could have died! What if he’d gotten out of his box and a car ran over him?”
“The rabbit’s safe, that’s the most important thing. I’ll go make a copy of what the camera out front recorded and give it to Grayson.”
While she let herself inside the help center, Jace called the sheriff’s office. Mink was on her heels. “Can I have him, Sis?” he asked hopefully. She had never seen him so animated.
“Can you have a pet in your apartment?” Piper asked carefully.
Slender shoulders sagged. “No. They don’t allow pets.”
He put the box on the counter and looked into it. At that moment the huge rabbit put his front feet on the edge of the box, tipping it over. Mink scooped the animal up and held him close. The rabbit didn’t mind. He pushed his head under Mink’s chin, settling in comfortably. Obviously the rabbit was very used to being handled.
“We’ll figure something out.” The pair looked like they needed each other at that moment. Mink was looking for love, but hadn’t yet found it. He was obviously lonely. A pet could ease that. Whatever was between her brother and Colt was still a mystery to her. Just when she thought she saw something like love between the two, it changed into something else. For all that they were very good friends. “We’ll get it checked out by the vet tomorrow. Until then I’ll take him home with me and we’ll think of some way for you to keep it.”
Mink didn’t look at her. “I don’t have enough money to move.” His voice was low and she saw the color rising in his neck.
“I could help you out. That’s what family is for,” Piper added quickly when she saw he was about to argue with her. “If you need help with a security deposit and the rent, I’m more than happy to help you.”
Jace came in just then, followed by Grayson. Both men reached out to scratch the rabbit behind the ears. Once the sheriff took the information he needed they went back to make a copy of the security camera’s footage. It didn’t take long. Neither man recognized the woman in the footage, which was not surprising since Jace was a new arrival. She was likely from outside the area. The camera did, however, get a shot of her car’s license plate number.
“I’ll take care of this. Unfortunately for her, we’ll have to make an example of her. It’s not right to leave an animal outside like she did, especially when you were available to help. I’ll call and let you know what I find out.”
“Luckily Mink found the rabbit before anything happened to it.” She smiled at her brother, which he returned shyly as he stroked silky reddish-brown fur. Her brother really was a sweet, gentle soul. She wished he could find someone to love him for those beautiful qualities. An image of the darkly dangerous-looking Rafe McNeil came into her mind. “I have a cage in the back that will be just right to keep him in a day or two. We’ll hang a water bottle on it and give him something to eat.”
Mink hurried after her. “Do you mind if I stay at your house tonight? Just so I can keep an eye on him.”
“Do you have to work tonight?” Mink didn’t own a car. Someone would have to pick him up from his job at the fast food restaurant down the street. “Merck or Jace can come back in to get you.”
“I only work four hours tonight. I still have to go home to change.”
It didn’t take long for them to get the cage ready for the rabbit. Since she had stocked food for a variety of animals, she had pellets and processed hay chunks. Mink put his rabbit into the cage. It settled on the raised cage floor and immediately began eating. After she brought back the filled water bottle he hung it on the side.
“We’ll take him home with us. And one of the guys will come back in for you.” She glanced at the clock. “You better get going. You don’t want to be late.” Acting on impulse she leaned forward and quickly kissed him on the cheek.
Shock mixed with pleasure as he threw his arms around her, hugging her tightly. “You’re the best sister! I get off at midnight.”
Once he was gone Jace wrapped Piper tight in his strong arms. She rested against his big body, grateful as her weary self all but gave up. When was the last time she had a proper rest? She couldn’t remember, but she thought it was almost two months. She had spent so much time planning and getting her businesses running that she had neglected to take care of herself.
And now Piper was now fully involved with her men. Since spending the past two nights with them she had gotten even less rest. She wondered if she would be able to stay awake long enough to make love with them tonight. Her spirit was willing, but the rest of her was begging for a full night’s sleep.
“I think my baby needs a good night’s sleep and a manager to help with the work.”
“I could use the first. The second, well, I’ll have to think about that.”
Piper closed her eyes, soaking up all the good things from her man. She wished Merck was there to press against her back. She liked being a Piper sandwich. Sighing, she traced circles on his back with her fingertips.
Jace chuckled. “The only way I can tell you’re still awake is that your fingers are moving. Why don’t we get going? You can sleep on the way home.”
“But I’m comfortable,” she mumbled, unable to pry her eyelids open.
The next thing she knew she was being lifted. After that, well, there was no after that.
By the time his lovers got home Merck had worked himself into a very angry state. He’d discovered the name of the bastard who’d attacked Piper. He didn’t know him personally, the man a relative newcomer to the rodeo scene. But it didn’t take long to learn from friends and business associates that Bart Cragge had been gaining a bad reputation before the encounter Piper had with him.
It hadn’t taken any pressure from Doug Barrows, or any of his wealth, to see the guy go to jail for assault. The prosecutor had wanted him charged for attempted murder but there hadn’t been enough evidence that Cragge had been try
ing to kill her. He had been sentenced to fourteen months in jail. There was one problem, however. A paperwork snafu had inadvertently allowed Cragge to be released early. Once it was realized law enforcement had begun searching for him, but had so far been unsuccessful in finding the man.
Having spoken to Grayson he knew that finding the man was no longer a priority when there were so many other crimes to be investigated and suspects to be tracked down. He reluctantly agreed with their thinking. However, he didn’t have to be fucking happy about it. The sheriff promised that he’d have Cragge’s photo on TV that night, hoping to bring awareness to the community. In a place like Silver having so many eyes watching for him would be a big help.
Merck held the door open for Jace as he carried their sleeping beauty into the kitchen. “This is getting to be a habit. I don’t know to be offended or concerned.”
Jace laughed. “Concerned first. We have to see to it Piper gets some sleep.”
Long lashes fluttered. Piper’s small nose twitched. “Do I smell homemade bread?”
“Yes. I had some time on my hands.”
“You can put me down now.” She wiggled, but Jace wasn’t giving up holding her just yet. “Please?”
“Pay me.”
“No.” She pouted, but she was peeking up at Jace through her lashes. “Why should I?”
Merck laughed at her antics then reached for her waist, tickling her. She squealed and twisted in Jace’s arms, trying to get away from his tormenting fingers. “I think you should do what he says. Pay the man, Piper.”
“I think you have that backward. Aren’t you two supposed to be paying me?”
Taking her away from Jace, Merck held her against his chest, their faces close, her feet dangling a foot above the floor. “Do you think we should pay the piper, Jace?”
“Maybe. What do you think we should pay her with?”
“What about kisses and cocks?”
“I think she should kiss my cock.”
Piper grinned. “How would that be paying me?”
