by Jenny Penn
“Knowing when to retreat isn’t running away,” Mike shot back, returning Brett’s look with his own dark one.
“Yeah, it is.” Brett snorted up a laugh.
“Well then, what the hell do you suggest?” Mike demanded to know defensively.
“Why not give things a chance and see where they lead?”
“To love?” Mike spat that word out as if it left him feeling dirty. “Now who sounds like the girl?”
“Men can love,” Brett insisted before shooting his brother a big smile. “I love you.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Brett—”
“Don’t you love me, too?”
“Brett.” Mike breathed out his name on an aggrieved sigh as his shoulders slumped under an imaginary weight, but Brett wasn’t going to let his brother wiggle out of saying it.
“Don’t you?” he pressed, earning a growl and a snarl as Mike finally gave in.
“You know I do. Otherwise, I’d have beaten you to death by now.”
“Well, that’s sweet.” Brett snickered, not the least bit put off by his brother’s scowl. “Just say the same thing to Angie and see how she feels about you then.”
“Crazy as she is, she’d probably put on boxing gloves and take me on.”
“Likely naked, too,” Brett added on, finally causing his brother to snort up a half-smile.
“Yeah, likely, too.”
That eased the tension, and they sat there for another half-hour in silence before Brett dared to say what he was really thinking.
“What are we going to do with her?” Brett glanced over at Mike, who turned his chin to meet Brett’s gaze. For a moment they shared a special kind of acceptance. “I’m sorry, man, but I’m not going to last.”
“You really think we’re good enough for her?”
“No.” Brett shook his head. “But that is not exactly our decision to make, is it?”
“Yeah, it is.” The corners of Mike’s lips lifted in a smile Brett knew meant trouble. “All we’ve got to do is prove the point to Angie.”
“And how you going to do that?” Brett was almost afraid to ask.
Chapter 6
“Why are men so intent on being difficult?” Angie asked that question of nobody in particular. Flanked on either side by Patton and Hailey, she looked up and pinned the big, bald bartender with a pointed look as he slid a beer beneath each woman. “I mean, really, all I wanted was to give him a blow job, and he ran away like a little girl.”
All three women waited and watched as the stiff-faced Riley blinked that question in. He didn’t crack a smile or flush with any kind of blush as he responded with a flat, uninterested tone.
“That’s six bucks, plus a two buck tip for asking a stupid question.”
“What’s so stupid about that question?” Angie bristled as Hailey reached for her wallet.
“You been hanging out with the wrong type of man if you don’t get how scary you are,” the man shot back as he snapped up the money Hailey offered him.
With that, he turned and sauntered off, leaving all three women staring after him before finally Hailey broke the silence.
“He might have a point there, actually.” Hailey cast a critical eye over Angie. “I mean, you’re putting a lot of pressure on them with all that destiny crap. You ever consider how overwhelming a man might find that kind of idea? After all, there is such a thing as trying too hard.”
“No there isn’t.” Patton snorted and rolled her eyes. “Don’t let Hailey make you doubt yourself. You know your destiny. You feel it in your heart. You got to follow it…and you haven’t gone too far even if you have tied the man to your bed and mounted him.”
“Now there is an idea.”
One Angie would have loved to try, but she didn’t think Mike would take kindly to being restrained like that. Brett, now, he might let her get away with it. She’d probably have to return the favor, though. Not that that was a problem.
“Don’t even think about it,” Hailey warned her. “And don’t listen to Patton. Trust me, none of her men would dare to let her tie them up.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Patton straightened in her seat with a smug smile. “They’re all at home squirming, and I bet they’d do just about anything to be forgiven, particularly Chase.”
That comment had Angie’s thoughts shifting away from the two brothers intent on driving her nuts to the two women, who, thankfully, had settled their differences. Well, maybe not settled, but they’d negotiated a true of sorts. She knew just whom she had to thank for that.
“That was real nice.” Angie shot Patton a grateful smile as she qualified her compliment. “What you did for Lana. I mean it was a little weird—”
Patton cut her off with another snort. “There is nothing weird about it, and I wasn’t being charitable. I was getting rid of the damn woman.”
“You could have sent her to jail,” Angie pointed out. “That would have gotten rid of her a lot longer than just a few weeks.”
“Yeah, and then what about Chase?” Patton shot back. “The man reeks of guilt, and that isn’t just because he lied to me. I can tell he feels like the monster that kicked the puppy, and I don’t need him obsessing over her like that or putting himself down. Besides, I got what I wanted.”
“Her share of the club.”
Angie knew the contracts were being drawn up, just as she knew that Patton could afford to buy out Lana only because Lana had agreed to her price.
“That’s right. The Cattlemen are under new management.” Patton gloated outright as she lifted her drink up into the air in a salute. “And I can’t wait to walk around naked!”
“Like Chase is going to let you get away with that.” Angie paused to narrow her gaze on Patton. “Unless, of course, you want him to have a stroke.”
“No. Not hardly,” Patton assured her. “I just don’t want him brooding over his mistakes. I have found nudity does tend to distract a man.”
“Hear, hear.” Hailey raised her glass to that.
They all drank, but it was Patton who smacked her glass back down and offered them up another evil smile.
“Besides, I need the leverage. I’ve got plans.”
“Plans?” Angie lifted a brow, not liking the sound of that at all. “What kind of plans?”
No goods ones. That answer became obvious as Patton started rattling out all her ideas. Angie and Hailey listened to her go on for nearly another hour before Patton’s phone rang and she finally took a break to answer it. It was then that Hailey finally gave voice to the worries Angie had sensed brewing in her since they’d met up.
“So, Mike really took off, huh?”
“I’m sure he was just messing with me.” Angie forced a smile, not wanting Hailey to worry.
“I don’t know.” Staring down into her drink, Hailey seemed to weigh the options before finally giving voice to her worries. “Mike’s always been the sensitive one, you know? I think things might have been a little harder on him in the military than Brett.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not planning on being hard on them,” Angie assured her as Patton’s indignant tone rang throughout the bar.
“Oh, don’t take that tone with me, mister! I’m allowed to ride my motorcycle if I want to. After all, it’s mine!”
“I’m just saying, he’s always been weird about letting people in. Our dad walking out didn’t exactly help.”
“Then it’s time he broke out of that shell, or he’ll spend the rest of his life alone and locked in it.” Angie would know. Hadn’t she locked herself away in her destiny? Her fantasy of them, of Brett and Mike.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you have to keep flashing him.” Hailey puckered up somewhat indignantly. “Maybe you should take things a little slower. You know? Like keep your clothes on.”
“Oh.” Angie considered that for a moment and could admit, at least to herself, that Hailey might have a point. That didn’t stop her from teasing the other woman.
“But I look good naked.”
“Oh, yeah? Then come and find me because I’m not coming home till I feel like it.” Patton slammed her phone closed and glanced back over at them with a smile. “Now, where were we?”
Before either one of them could answer, the bar’s phone let out a shrill ring. Riley answered it, barely speaking a word, but he didn’t have to say anything. His gaze spoke for him as it landed on Patton.
“Yeah, man, she’s here.”
“Well, I guess I’ve got to go.” Patton hopped off her seat, pausing only to give Angie and Hailey a quick goodbye. “See you two ladies later.”
With that, she sauntered out of the bar, sticking her tongue out at Riley as she strutted on past him. A few seconds later, the roar of a motorcycle’s engine boldly revved up in the parking lot. It growled loudly before speeding off with a whine, and Angie couldn’t help but offer up a prayer that Patton didn’t end up a splat on the road.
“I mean, really, do you want to end up like that?” Hailey asked as she turned back to pin Angie with a pointed look. “Always at war? Because my brothers deserve a little peace.”
Angie couldn’t deny that Hailey had a point. She deserved a little peace, too. She felt certain she could find it. After all, Hailey had.
“Oh, don’t even pretend like you and Kyle started out all lovey-dovey. He was your archenemy in high school,” Angie reminded Hailey, knowing the other woman hadn’t forgotten. “And from the rumors I’ve heard, you and Cole started out with a pretty antagonistic relationship.”
“I guess,” Hailey admitted somewhat reluctantly. “But we confined our battles to the bedroom and adopted a porno night.”
“Excuse me?” Angie blinked, not certain what that had to do with anything.
“We have porno night,” Hailey repeated, and this time she expanded on her explanation. “You ever see that documentary about the monkeys who have sex as a way to settle every dispute?”
“No.” And Angie really wasn’t interested in seeing it either. “Please tell me that’s not the porn you are watching.”
“No! God.” Hailey huffed as she rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that Kyle, Cole, and I are all real competitive, so to keep peace, we have game night…sometimes more than once a week, but the point is that it’s hard to fight when you’re fucking.”
“I see.” Actually, Angie really didn’t, but she didn’t figure she would no matter how Hailey explained it. “Well, maybe you ought to give that advice to your brothers because I am trying to convince them to have a porno night, and they keep telling me no.”
“That’s because you keep making marriage a string attached to the sex,” Hailey retorted before also pointing out what Angie could begin to see was kind of a flaw in her plan.
“And men hate to feel pressured.”
“Mike more than most.” Hailey nodded. “That’s probably why he ran. You scared him.”
Angie didn’t think it was her that had sent Mike fleeing so much as what she represented, the possibility of a relationship and a future. The reason didn’t matter, though. Hailey was still right. Angie needed to find a way to take the tension out of the moment. Thanks to Hailey, she had a pretty good idea of how to do that.
“I’ve got to go.” Angie picked up her purse and hopped off her stool. “This has been a good talk. Next time I’ll get the drinks.”
“Where are you going?” Hailey swung around in her seat, calling after Angie. “It’s still early!”
“Sorry, I’ve got some business to take care of,” Angie tossed back as she reached the door.
It flew open before she could push into it, and Chase came storming into the bar, damn near running Angie over in the process. He stumbled backward, his gaze cutting from the room at large to her, and she could read more than anger there. He was panicked.
“Sorry,” Angie offered him a quick, sympathetic smile. “Patton already took off, and no, I don’t know where.”
“Damn it!” He spat that out as he turned to storm right back out of the bar, but Angie caught him by the elbow, bringing Chase to a quick stop.
“You know she’s just messing with you, right?”
Angie didn’t feel any qualms about ratting Patton out. Not when she knew Patton was looking forward to getting punished. Hopefully, this would help with that goal because Angie really didn’t like Patton racing all over the place on that damn bike.
“It’s payback for lying to her all this time, but still, she’s not really hurt,” Angie assured him, expecting instant irritation at that revelation. She got it. It just wasn’t directed at the right person in her mind.
“Don’t you think I know that?” Chase snapped.
“You do?” Angie released him to pull back and scowl. “Then why are you running around cussing at everybody?”
“Because I don’t want all my underwear dyed pink again,” Chase shot back as if that made any sense.
It didn’t, but then again, it didn’t need to, which was a good thing because Chase wasn’t waiting around to explain himself either. He slammed out of the bar, leaving Angie to wonder if he knew that Patton had forced Lana to sell her half of the business to her. Something told her he didn’t, or he wouldn’t be faking being panicked.
That was tomorrow’s problem.
Tonight she had a bigger obstacle to surmount. Unfortunately, he wasn’t home when she got there, but Brett was. He was vegging out on the couch, watching TV and drinking a juice box. He glanced up as she came strutting into the room.
“Hey.” Brett lifted his juice in a greeting that Angie didn’t bother to return. Instead, she started right into her proposition.
“I want to make a deal with you.”
“Yeah?” Brett lifted a brow at that. “What kind of deal?”
“I’m talking about a porno date night.” Angie sucked in a breath and laid out her idea without bothering to consider the details. “We’ll each get one day a week to tempt the other. If, on my day, I manage to get you or your brother to fuck me, you marry me. If, on your day, you manage to make me beg you to fuck me, it’s a free ride.”
Brett blinked up at her and then burst out laughing. Angie didn’t know what to make of that. All she knew was that he looked good, relaxing there on the couch. While the same artistic hand had cut Brett’s features from the very same cloth as Mike’s, the light of his personality animated his expression with such mischief that Angie had always been able to tell them apart. She always would.
“I’m sorry, Angie,” Brett apologized as he got himself in hand. “I’m not laughing at you. I’m just laughing at the situation.”
“Why?” Angie narrowed her gaze on him, certain that didn’t sound good. “What’s the situation?”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough.” Brett straightened up in his seat as he reached for the remote and hit the mute button. “As for your proposal, I’m curious if you’re offering this just to me or to both Mike and me?”
“It’s open to both of you.” But Angie didn’t expect both brothers to take her up on it. At least not at first.
“Yeah, but you don’t think Mike is going to say yes.” It was like Brett was reading her mind. “But you do think I will. What’s more, you think I won’t have the control to stop.”
“Does it really matter what I think?” Angie couldn’t deny he was right on all three of those points.
“Oh, yes. I think it does,” Brett insisted with a wicked little smile that hinted at a deeper meaning. “But, like I said, you’ll figure that out soon enough. What I want to know is just what is allowed, that is if I agree to this arrangement.”
“Anal, oral, and everything in between.” Angie could tell that her bold bluntness amused him. More than that, it had him shifting as his jeans began to bulge with a great deal of interest. “Even vaginal if you can make me beg for it…even if you can’t, you can always use a toy. Hell, it’s not like others haven’t.”
That last comment had Brett’s eye
s flashing with a sudden heat that played directly into Angie’s plans. She had Brett hooked and halfway reeled in. He was going to agree, or he would have if Mike hadn’t chosen that moment to come slamming through the front door.
“I got the liquor,” he declared, not bothering with a greeting. At least not bothering to offer his brother one. Instead, he cast her a big smile that warned Angie something was definitely up. “Hey, Angie, want to get drunk?”
“Why would I want to do that?” Angie lifted a brow as she fought back a smile, suspecting she knew exactly why he wanted her to do that.
Mike didn’t answer, though. Instead, he moved deeper into the living room to drop the box of booze on the coffee table. It was an impressive pile, and she didn’t think for a moment he planned on finishing that off alone. She was probably supposed to help. Then, once inebriated, who knew what would happen? What vows might get revoked? What conditions overturned?
Angie rolled her eyes at those thoughts, wondering if Mike really thought she was that easy. Or that it was that easy to get her drunk. Many had tried to get Angie liquored up enough to make a mistake. None had succeeded because the one thing her parents had given her was a good alcohol gene.
That didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy playing along with the guys, though normally her fun began after they passed out. Just the idea of what Angie could do with Mike had her grinning as she moved to close the door. She had it halfway there when the door swung back inward and two men came huffing in as they lugged a keg with them.
“Hey, Mike, where you want this?” Duncan, a local deputy and well-known Cattleman, called out as his buddy shot Angie a devilish smile.
“Hey, Angie.” There was no hiding the mischievous glimmer in Daryl Watts’ eyes. He was a new member to the club and clearly fitting right in with the rest of the guys. “You ready to party?”
“Oh, yeah.” Angie smiled and peered around the door. “So how many of you are there?”
So the game wasn’t exactly laid out the way she’d imagined it. Maybe Mike thought she’d make a different kind of mistake. Angie wasn’t certain. All she knew was that he was the one who had made the mistake.
