Chloe made a little squealing noise. “Make sure he knows he’s been a long-term dumbass, though, okay?”
“He has already admitted as much,” Jenna said, laughing.
“Call me next week,” Chloe said. “I won’t ask for too many details. This is my brother, after all.”
Jenna looked over at him saying goodbye to Natalie, Ryan, and Javier. There was something cozy and interesting going on between those three, if Jenna wasn’t mistaken, but she’d save her suppositions for her next conversation with Chloe.
Dave came over and unpeeled the two of them. “Bye, Jenna,” he said, prodding Chloe into the car.
Jenna waved, then stopped at the second limo to say goodbye to Talia and Rachel. “I told you,” Talia said. “All he needed was a sexcapade.”
“I’ll never doubt your wisdom again,” Jenna said, her hand on her heart.
“Good, because we have a bachelorette party to plan and I have ideas. Big ideas.”
“Oh boy,” Jenna said when Rachel gave her a significant nod.
When the big black cars trundled down the driveway, she went to sit on the front porch to wait for her rental car to arrive. Rob came out of the lodge, put a mug of tea on the wide arm of the Adirondack chair, and sat down beside her. “Now what?” he asked.
“Do we have time for a nap? I’m exhausted.”
“I’m sure we could check back in, sleep some more, go for a long ride in the hills…” He looked at her with a silent-movie-Lothario’s gaze. “Other stuff.”
Jenna leaned across the arms of the chairs and tried not to laugh. “Like tie you to the bed this time?”
His humorous expression transformed to pure, lusty perfection. “Definitely that,” he said.
“Well then, I’m game. Call your buddy. Tell him Stephen’s staying one more day. I don’t even care what my brother says this time.”
He leaned in and kissed her. “Only if you promise to let me get you some proper boots.”
She got up, wove her fingers through his combed, Professor Rob hair, and ruffled it up the way she liked it. “Can I wear them to bed?”
He held her between his legs. “Where else? You don’t own a horse. Not yet, anyway.”
If Rob could embrace the dark side, she could learn to love boots, and maybe even horses. Jenna leaned down to suck in his luscious bottom lip, touch her tongue to his, taste all the wicked good inside him. “Mm, giddy up, cowboy.”
Epilogue
One year later
“Rob! Come on, everyone’s waiting.” Jenna stood in the doorway of Javier’s new office, exasperated with her fiancé.
“I know, I’m just printing off this contract for Javier to review.”
“He’s on a horse, Rob. He isn’t going to read it right now.”
The Lindgren siblings and their partners had returned to Idaho for a celebration. A year ago, Chloe had been the only one committed to her future. But it had only taken a weekend at the ranch to knock some sense into both Natalie and Rob. They were twins, after all. One just as thickheaded as the other.
Now Jenna had Rob, and Natalie had Ryan and Javier. The three of them never looked as relaxed and comfortable together as they did here at the ranch, where everyone knew about their relationship and supported them. Natalie had been nervous the night she’d let Rob and Jenna, and Chloe and Dave know she’d committed to a triad, but her brother and sister didn’t bat an eye. “You think we hadn’t already figured it out?” Chloe had said in her blunt, baby-sister fashion. “What kind of idiots do you think we are?”
“Done,” Rob said, spinning the chair around.
Jenna’s heart skipped and stuttered. Even after living with him for nine months, he still managed to catch her off guard. She would never stop loving that stern expression, those creases between his brows, or the way his eyes zeroed in on her, giving away his thoughts like a subtitled movie. Come here and fuck me.
Jenna was on his lap without thinking about it, the toes of her boots hooked inside his knees, her fingers in his hair. “Maybe they’ll wait.”
“Should we risk it?” He tucked her up against his cock and kissed her the way he’d done hundreds of times in the last year. Full of fire and passion, his hands and mouth working magic on her.
“It’s not like Javier hasn’t seen us naked,” she said, sucking his lip between her teeth.
He froze and pushed her back, his hands on her shoulders. His rolled-up sleeve rose past his elbow, exposing a peek of the tattoo Jenna had convinced him to get. A rearing stallion inked on his bicep. “But it could be Nat or Chloe coming to find us. That would be…traumatic. You have two seconds to get up before I let you slide off my lap.”
Jenna stole a last kiss and held on to his neck as he stood, then slid slowly down his front, until her feet touched the floor.
“Now how am I supposed to ride with a cockstand?”
She looked at him with her sultriest expression. “You’ve done it hundreds of times. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
His chagrin made her laugh.
“Come on, Trouble.”
When they got to the corral, everyone was already in the saddle and waiting. “I told you they’d fuck,” Chloe said. “We’re supposed to be the newlyweds, you know.” She wagged a finger between herself and Dave.
Rob didn’t deign to respond, and Jenna simply ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it off her face and leaving everyone to wonder.
Once they mounted up, Rob on Espanto and Jenna on Cookie, Javier gave a whistle and they all took off at a trot. Jenna had learned to hold on right, but she wasn’t so accomplished that she didn’t still squeak at the sudden start.
Javier and Rob rode side by side, talking business, obviously. Rob had opened his own law practice, focused mainly on ranch-related matters. It brought him to Javier’s place once a quarter but also allowed him time to work with Matt, when extra hands were needed. Rob hadn’t completely abandoned that stern-professor mien, but Jenna knew he was happy and content beneath it.
So was she. They hadn’t set a wedding date, but they’d combined households, moving into a condo in downtown Seattle. Close to her office and with room for Stephen to crash on school breaks. And of course, she had Rob and all that came with him. The strength and security and that wild streak he only showed to the people he loved most.
Natalie fell back to join Jenna and Chloe as they cantered across the meadow Javier had renamed Gopher Gulch, even though it wasn’t a gulch and Jenna had never seen one pocket gopher in there. The horses jogged through the flowers and then slowed on the uphill climb to the ridge where a picnic waited.
While Javier and Rob tethered the horses, the rest of them spread out the blankets and food. Cold chicken with all the extras from Javier’s incredible chef.
But before they dug in, Javier popped a bottle of champagne. Jenna leaned back against Rob’s chest as they passed the bottle and poured, her eyes prickling with emotion, just like they did every time she looked around, and realized how lucky she was to be part of this big, loving family. A year ago, she couldn’t have imagined it for herself. Now, though, she was amazed how long she’d lived without it.
Ryan raised a glass to do the honors, just as he’d done a year ago. “We’re here on this Ranchiversary to celebrate not one epic union, but three. Who would ever have guessed the day we all rolled up in those limos that we’d all be this lucky?”
“Me!” Chloe shouted. “Didn’t I ever tell you? It was my diabolical plan all along.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Jenna shouted over the laughter.
Rob kissed the top of her ear. “Best weekend of my life.” He tasted of champagne when his lips moved to hers. “Have I told you how much I love you?”
“I think twice today, but you can always tell me again.”
“I might,” he said, his whisper rich with erotic promise. “But it won’t be in public.”
“I’ll drink to that, too, cowboy.”
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Acknowledgments
To my first readers, Nicole, Toria, and Rachel. Thank you for your honesty, your senses of humor, and for standing by me with a nudge and a cheer. And to the members of the Bad Menagerie for making sure I never get lost in the black hole of the Lonely Writer’s Existence.
To my poor husband, I promise we’re going to catch up on all the movies and dinners we’ve missed the last several months. I really wasn’t having a torrid affair with the computer.
Thanks to my editor, Brenda, for your astute direction, and what appears to be a bottomless well of patience. I’m deeply appreciative.
And to the rest of the team at Entangled. I’m so fortunate to have such a great group in my corner. Thanks, all.
About the Author
Renee Dominick lives and works in the Seattle suburbs, a place perfectly suited to her love of all things nature, and for writing atmospheric and steamy erotic romance.
When she’s not melded to her laptop, she’s probably reading, watching off-beat movies, poking around in her garden (assisted by her two terriers,) or planning her next big adventure.
Her super-sexy short story, Through Glass a Stranger, can be found in the erotic anthology, kINKED. Visit her website at ReneeDominick.com, and find her on Twitter @Renee_Dominick.
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