by Jenny May
Logan nodded. They might have appeared interested before, but he could have been wrong. He pretty much knew deep down it was a no-go anyway. Still, wasn’t it worth a shot? What did he have to lose?
“Maybe you’re right. But…maybe not. I’m always up for a challenge.”
Myles laughed. “Oh, it’ll be a challenge all right. A big one.”
An extremely tall woman came up to the bar and ordered a beer. She flipped her long red hair over her bare shoulder and winked at Logan.
“Hi, there.”
Before Logan could think of a response to get rid of her, Myles leaned the top half of her body over the bar. “Beat it, Regina. He’s taken.”
The woman rolled her eyes and snatched the beer. “By who. You? Yeah, right.” The malice in her voice made Logan feel instantly possessive. What was wrong with Myles? If he was into women, why wouldn’t he find the bartender attractive? She was amazing. Nice, curvy body. Full breasts. His vision got stuck there as Myles said something he didn’t quite hear.
“Hey…Hello….” Logan jerked his eyes up, feeling embarrassed. Had he just been checking her out? Shit. After a few seconds a smile reached across Myles’s face so big Logan became transfixed all over again, this time it was by her beautiful expression.
“Would you have coffee with me in the morning?”
Logan was taken aback. A date? Now that was a bit much. He wasn’t sure he was ready to go that far.
“I have to work bright and early. Plus, I thought we’d already pretty much came to the conclusion that I wasn’t interested in—”
Her finger pressed against his lips. “Don’t worry, stud. I’m not going to bite.” She leaned forward, exposing the cleavage from her black leather halter top. “Unless you like that sort of thing.” Blue eyes focused on his mouth. “Let’s put it this way, I like you.” She slowly brushed her finger back and forth over his lower lip. “You work at Dark Days, right?”
Confused and thrown off by her touch, Logan just nodded. His mind wasn’t working right. The unique smell of her perfume was intoxicating.
This was not happening to him. The hardness of his cock was back. He wanted to pull her across the bar…and what? He’d never been with a woman. Not completely, anyway. He’d fooled around in high school, but never physically anything past second base. What exactly would he do?
Stupid. You know what to do. It wasn’t as if he’d never seen porn or didn’t know the actions, but actually going through the motions. No. That was one thing he wasn’t sure would play out well. How would it feel to have his cock buried deep in her wet pussy?
Logan inhaled deeply, half tempted to suck her finger into his mouth. What was that scent? There was a power to it. As though an invisible rope was wrapped around his body and with every breath he took it pulled him closer. The crazy part was there was nothing he could do about it. His body was betraying him, mesmerized by this mysterious woman, and deep down he loved it. Even if he wasn’t ready to fully admit it to himself.
As fast as her finger had made contact with his lips, it disappeared. Myles was suddenly looking around the room a good two feet away as though she hadn’t just turned his world upside down.
“So what do you think? Coffee?”
Logan shook his head. “Maybe another time.” He stood up to leave and froze. Walking through the front door was none other than the two men he’d been waiting for, Jack and David. Myles was right. They were like gods. There was an aura around them that made you want to gravitate in their direction.
Myles cleared her throat. “You’ll never get them without my help.”
Logan wanted to tell her she was wrong, but the closer the two men came the more he wasn’t so sure about himself. He looked in her direction, finally able to break his stare on the men. “What makes you think I can’t do it?”
“Because.” Her blue eyes glanced away from him, and she leaned across the bar, her attention completely on the couple. The dark-haired one walked over, the blond trailing a few feet behind. The whole bar’s attention was on them. It was as if someone turned the volume down on the whole place.
“Hey, sis. Anything interesting happen while I was gone?”
The slight grin that came to Myles’s face made Logan’s stomach drop. This wasn’t just any hot bartender who wanted to help him out. She was a sister to one of them!
Sweat began to collect on Logan’s brow. The situation had just gotten a lot more complex than he could have dreamed. It all started with a crush on two men, and somewhere down the line the sister decided to take a blender to his hormones and mixed them all up. He was so damn confused. Did he still want to pursue the couple, or was it Myles he was interested in?
Chapter 3
Logan looked back and forth between Myles and Jack. It was so obvious. Same eyes. Same lips. Definitely the same black curly hair. The more he stared, the more he realized, they weren’t just brother and sister, they had to be twins!
The music grew louder in the background as things around the bar went back to normal. David placed his hands in his pockets as he approached the bar next to Jack. Myles nodded her head to him and turned her attention back to her brother.
“Nothing much going on around here. Logan and I were just talking about getting some coffee once this place closed down. You and David wanna come?”
Logan opened his mouth to tell them he had to get up early for work, but no words came out. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around that little minx not being truthful about how she knew the couple.
“I wish we could, sis. Gotta get back to the ranch and at least attempt to get some sleep before the sun rises.”
Myles laughed and handed Jack and David a beer. “Sleep? Are you getting old on me, brother?”
“In your dreams.” Jack rolled his eyes playfully. “When I said sleep, I didn’t necessarily mean sleep. Now, you two have fun, but not too much.” He began leaving toward the pool tables with David and stopped. His gaze focused on Logan. “You just started at Dark Days, correct?”
Logan froze. How did Jack know where he worked? Wait, Myles and her brother had both known. Small-town gossip?
Like an idiot, Logan nodded. It was the only thing he seemed to know how to do.
“Good. I’ll know where to find you if anything happens to my sister.” With that the couple took off. Logan slowly brought his attention back to Myles.
“What the hell just happened, My?”
She burst out laughing and took a drink from the soda she had hidden behind the bar. “My brother’s the only one allowed to call me My. Anyways, that was me introducing you to them. I think it went well. What do you think?”
“What do I think?” Logan was at a loss for words. “What do I think? Fucking peachy is what I think. If you ask me, that wasn’t you introducing me to them, that was you introducing me as your coffee date. Hell, they think I’m interested in you.”
Myles lowered her head and turned her back to face the cash register. Tightness twisted Logan’s stomach, and he wasn’t sure why. It was the truth. He wasn’t into women, and she knew that. So then why had he regretted saying it the moment the words left his lips?
* * * *
Myles took a deep breath and pretended to count her tips beside the register. Damn that had stung. True, she had made it appear Logan was her date. But in all truth, she didn’t want her brother and his boyfriend to get ahold of the sexy cowboy. If they knew Logan was interested, they’d be all over him, and she couldn’t let that happen.
She turned around to face him. “I just wanted them to go. Then they could have really got to know you, and I could have made it clearer you were meant for them and not me.”
It was a lie, but she couldn’t tell him the truth, yet. Logan was hers. The one from her dream. He was meant to be her mate, and he was not going to be mixed up with her brother before their bonding could happen.
“So, how about that coffee? I can leave a little early. I’ll get Teresa to cover me.”
L
ogan’s grey eyes narrowed. She could tell from his scent that he was conflicted with the entire situation. There was something there, a negativity in his mind that was putting off a metallic taste in her mouth. She didn’t like it one bit. He had to feel the pull of being her mate, didn’t he? He had to!
“You know, as much as I’d like to—”
Myles felt her heart pounding. He was going to turn her down, and she couldn’t let that happen.
“Let me just grab my purse in the back office. Wait right here.” Myles raced down the length of the bar. She couldn’t give him the chance to reject their date. Her wolf instincts were going crazy, and if they were right, he was getting ready to bolt and never come back. All she needed was a chance, a day for them to really bond and get to know each other. That should be enough time for their bond to kick in…right? Shit. She needed to stop freaking out or she was going to do more harm than good.
Chaos broke loose as she entered the office.
“Myles! Hurry!” Water was shooting out of the wall, drenching Luis, the bar owner. “I don’t know what happened. I was just sitting there doing paperwork and a freaking waterfall shot out of the wall. Damn pipes. I just did all that work on the men’s restroom last week, and now this! I can’t take any more. Things are falling apart faster than I can fix them.”
“I told you to just replace them all. I’m going to have to go shut the water off completely. Give me two minutes.” Myles rushed out of the room and glanced over toward where Logan had been sitting. She stumbled over her feet, crashing into someone. If she’d been in her right mind she would have immediately apologized, but at the sight of her mate gone, Myles’s heart sank. As she tried to blink away the tears, her eyes connected with her brother’s. Concern quickly turned to anger on his face as the tear slid down her cheek.
Chapter 4
Logan pulled back the reins and glanced down at his watch for the fiftieth time in the last twelve hours and fifteen seconds. Ever since he had walked out of the bar, he’d been checking the time like a hawk. Weird thing was, he wasn’t even sure why. It wasn’t as though he had done anything wrong. Myles knew he wasn’t interested. Hadn’t he made that clear?
The horse under him bucked hard and spun to the right. The tighter Logan gripped with his legs, the more the animal fought to unseat him. But it wasn’t going to happen. He’d broken in horses his entire life. From the moment his father told him to get on Sid, a wild mustang, he knew he had found his passion.
Logan had worked for days to get close to Sid. The first five had consisted of him trying to get into the gate without the mustang charging at him. It took another two weeks of his constant presence to be able to touch him. He’d never known anything like it before. Such spirit was uncommonly seen, and for Logan to somehow become connected to the animal gave him a sense of pride he’d never felt before.
When he looked into an animal’s eyes, he could just feel their soul in a rush of adrenaline. It was something he couldn’t make out into words when people asked why he chose to break horses. He was far from cocky, but the only response he could give was, “Believe it or not, I know them, and breaking a horse can be done either right or wrong. I wouldn’t trust anyone with that job but myself, because I really do care how each one will turn out.”
Although the crowd was thick around the corral, Logan saw nothing but Midnight, the quarter horse beneath him. The moment was coming, he could feel it. Soon the graceful animal beneath him would break and learn everything Logan was ready to teach him. One or two more jerks to the right and it was a done deal.
“Logan Harrison!”
The voice was so deep that Logan instantly jerked his head up. Big mistake. Midnight bucked before he felt it coming. By the time he realized what had happened, Logan hit the ground hard. Air gushed from his lungs in a long whoosh. It was pure instinct for him to start rolling. Midnight would have crushed his ribs had he not instantly moved.
Logan jumped up, searching the crowd for who had yelled. Men parted quickly, leaving one lone cowboy standing with his hands balled into fists at his side. Blue eyes glared in his direction. Jack. Shit.
“You have ten seconds to get over here.” The heavy breathing coming from Myles’s twin made Logan sigh. Well, so much for smooth sailing in his new job.
He slowly walked to the edge of the corral and looked into the face of one of the men he’d been drooling over not twenty-four hours ago. That spell was pretty much over now.
“I don’t believe we’ve officially met, Jack.” Logan let the cowboy’s name roll off his tongue with all the malice he felt. Anyone who worked at a ranch knew the dangers that this man had just put him through. Logan wasn’t about to let that slide, especially in front of all the ranch hands he spent every day working with. If one person ran over you, then everyone would start to.
“No, we haven’t met. And for good reason.”
Logan rested his forearms on the top metal bar surrounding the corral. “Oh yeah? And what reason would that be?”
“Don’t think for one minute that I don’t know who you are.” Jack took a step closer. “You practically ran McCall Ranch before you left them high and dry. They lost everything because of you. Anyone who just walks out on people, including my sister, doesn’t deserve respect.”
Logan clenched his jaw before it had a chance to drop at the ridiculous statements. “First off, I gave a two month notice before I quit. Your facts are so off the grid that it doesn’t even warrant an answer, but I’ll enlighten you. McCall Ranch didn’t go under because I left.” Logan slowed his breathing. He was seriously getting pissed, and that wasn’t going to be good at all.
“Have you even watched the news lately?” Logan sailed over the corral. Jack’s head tilted, and he looked around at the crowd that was closing in on them. Was he confused? Good, because he obviously had no idea what he was talking about.
“McCall was stealing,” Big Robb said from the outskirts of the fellow riders.
Jack wiped sweat off his forehead. “Whatever. Doesn’t explain why you stood up my sister last night.”
Logan took a deep breath and looked down at his boots. The anger instantly vanished. The thought of how he raced out of the bar at the first opportunity twisted his stomach. It was so out of his character to just leave someone without an explanation, but the thought that he might actually ravage the hell out of a woman scared the shit out of him.
“Jack, can we talk in private?”
The cowboy nodded and started walking. The empty field was only a hundred yards away from the corral. The distance was far enough to give them privacy, but still gave them a view to everything that was going on in their vicinity.
“So what happened? My sister was devastated. Am I missing something? Because seriously, she never mentioned anything about you.”
Logan kicked a small mound of dirt. “Truthfully, I don’t know why she’d be so upset. I mean, last night was the first time we’ve ever met. And it wasn’t even like we were trying to hook up or anything. We were talking about you and your partner.”
Jack’s eyebrows rose. “Me and David? Why us?”
Heat crept up Logan’s neck. He felt so uncomfortable all of a sudden. “Because…I’m not into girls. Or at least I wasn’t until last night.”
Jack shoved his hands into his pockets. He was quiet for so long Logan couldn’t imagine what he could possibly be thinking.
“Until last night? Explain.” The words were so clipped and laced with anger Logan wasn’t sure what to say.
“Sure, I thought girls were cute, but I never wanted to—” Logan cleared his throat, feeling his heart rate increase. Jack’s eyes cut into him like a blade. “No disrespect. I’m just trying to make sense of this, that’s all. Myles is the first woman I’ve ever even looked at twice. Something about her just…Hell, I don’t know. I can’t get her out of my head and I don’t know why. I’ve never even had a man affect me this way.”
Jack continued to stare at him like he was sudden
ly his worst enemy. It wasn’t until two long minutes later that his shoulders relaxed. “Tonight. Ten o’clock. You’re coming with me and David.” His eyes narrowed. “If you refuse to go, I can promise you that your job here at Dark Days will be over.”
“Don’t threaten me.” Logan took a step forward, feeling his anger rise again.
The blue from Jack’s eyes started to darken until they almost looked black. Logan blinked twice. Was he imagining it? What the fuck was going on?
“Ten o’clock. Be ready.” Jack headed in the direction of the main house leaving Logan standing there speechless.
Chapter 5
Ty sipped his beer, watching Myles from across the bar. She was amazing. Perfect. And she was also one of his biggest enemies. If anyone from her pack knew he was within a ten-mile radius of her, they’d rip his throat out without a second thought.
The music from the speaker beside him increased in volume causing Ty to wince. The noise was killing him. He was already sensitive to sound. If he wasn’t partially deaf tomorrow he’d be lucky.
“You doing okay over here?” The waitress smiled down at him in jeans tight enough they could have been painted on. Her hair was black, but not anywhere near as dark as his soon-to-be mate’s. Something about the color of Myles’s was unique. It was so black it almost looked blue, and the curls only intensified the effect.
“I’m good, drink-wise.” He glanced toward Myles and smiled up at the waitress. “What can you tell me about the bartender?”
The brunette laughed. “I don’t think she’d be too interested.” She shrugged. “Don’t take it personal though. I just don’t think she’s really into men. Enough of them hit on her and she doesn’t give them a second thought. Plus, the only time I’ve seen her have contact with one was as she was kicking their ass out of the door. She’s pretty tough. I’d steer clear if I were you.”
