by Lori King
She groaned, “You know, just when I start to think you might be a halfway decent guy you open your mouth.”
He feigned shock, “And here I brought you only the finest of club sandwiches our local diner can create.”
Mack laughed at their back and forth banter, and took the paint scraper from her hand, “You go eat, baby. I’ll get started on the scraping, and when Ryker finishes his fine dining experience he can work on the screen door.”
Claudia and Ryker settled on the porch steps to eat their sandwiches. From the first bite she was hooked. Turning her surprise on Ryker, she commented, “This really is an amazing sandwich.”
“I told you. Want to know what the secret ingredient is?” He looked around before leaning in conspiratorially, and when she nodded he whispered, “French dressing. On the third piece of bread in the middle they spread some French salad dressing in there, and it gives it a little extra something.”
Her laughter bounced off the house behind them, and echoed out into the yard startling a bird perched in the maple tree. “Who would have thought? Thank you for the sandwich, Ryk. It’s delicious.”
“You’re welcome, duchess. I can be a nice guy sometimes, just don’t get used to it.” He winked at her, and shoved their trash back into the paper bag before standing. “We better get back to work. I heard the boss on this job is a real tough bitch.” He went back into the house to dispose of the trash, leaving her laughing behind him as she retrieved the second paint scraper.
For a few moments she just observed Mack as he worked, admiring the ripple of muscles under his t-shirt, and the clenching of his tight ass every time he reached his arm out. He had a body built for sin, and she considered coercing him down off the ladder just to get her hands on him again. The thought vanished the instant it appeared, because if Ryker walked out and found them in any kind of erotic embrace she knew it would wound him deeply, and she didn’t want to do that. Hurting either of them was the last thing she wanted to do.
When he turned and met her gaze, he frowned, “Everything okay, sweetheart?”
“Are you sure you’re okay with Ryker being here?” she asked hesitantly. She needed to know, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to send Ryk away if Mack wanted her to.
He lowered his arm, and slowly climbed down the ladder until he stood face to face with her. Giving her a small smile, he sighed, “No. Not necessarily, but I love my brother, and as much as I want to be alone with you, I don’t want to hurt him. I’m not sure what the future holds for you and me, but I hate to think something this good would cause my brother pain.”
She nodded in understanding. “I don’t want to be caught in the middle.”
“You won’t be. I won’t let it happen. Give Ryk some time to get it through his head you and I are together, and he’ll ease off. I do want you two to be friends, even though I want you all to myself.” He bent and kissed her forehead. “Stop worrying, or you’ll make yourself sick. Ryk and I have been competing for things our whole lives. He just has to realize I already won the prize.”
Mack climbed back up the ladder and set to work again, leaving her alone with her thoughts and the cracked paint in front of her to take out her stress on. She wondered if she should explain to Mack that she was really attracted to Ryker, but the thought filled her with dread. It was important not to shake his confidence, because as far as she was concerned, she was Mack’s girl for the moment. She met him first, and so far he had been nothing but wonderful to her. Besides, she was only here temporarily. She needed to make sure these two brothers still had a good relationship when she left.
With Mack working on the ladder and her on the lower half, they were making good progress and an hour had passed before Ryker’s voice behind her made her jump. “Screen doors are both oiled, so they don’t squeak now, and I fixed the leak in your kitchen faucet. While I was there I fixed the garbage disposal too.”
“You did all of that already?” she asked in shock.
He shrugged, “Yeah, it wasn’t a big deal. All easy fixes.”
“Well I’m impressed.”
His eyes narrowed, “Why?”
“Because I wouldn’t have expected a big shot football star to be able to fix a garbage disposal,” she teased, laughing when he let out a loud huff.
“I might have played pro football for ten years, but I lived with my daddy for eighteen, and he didn’t believe in hiring a repairman. Mack and I have all sorts of random knowledge in our heads thanks to him,” Ryker said, holding his hand out to her. She just looked at it curiously. “The scraper. Your hands are already raw, if you keep it up they will look like ground meat. I’ll take over.”
A quick glance down at her knuckles revealed the truth of his words, and she wrinkled her nose. “I can finish. We’re almost done. I just wanted to get this side done today, and then tomorrow I can put primer on it. I’ll leave it that way until I’m ready to paint the whole thing.”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mack shift to watch from atop the ladder, and both he and Ryker were frowning at her. Ryker’s voice was smooth, but firm, “Claudia, I never thought for a second you couldn’t do it. I just don’t want you to when I’m available to help you.”
“But—”
“Stop arguing, sweetheart. It won’t do you any good. Neither one of us is going to sit back on our heels and watch you work your fingers to the bone,” Mack said from above her, and she grunted a non-response before holding the scraper out to Ryker.
“Ganging up on me already, huh? That won’t always work for you, but I’ll give in this time. I’ll go get us something to drink while you two finish. We can all go sit in the shade on the back porch when it’s done.”
“Sounds like heaven, sweetheart.”
Ryker nodded his agreement, “We’ll meet you back there, sweet cheeks.”
Irritated by his choice of endearments she rolled her eyes at him and went inside. Within twenty minutes she had a pitcher of lemonade and a plate of Oreos ready as the guys came through the front door.
“Oreos?” Mack said with a smile.
Ryker’s mouth dropped open and he rubbed at his chest over his heart, “You’re a goddess! How did you know my favorite cookies were Oreos?”
She laughed, “I didn’t, but they are my favorite and currently the only cookie in the house.”
He suddenly looked serious, “Do you have more?”
Nodding, she frowned, “Yeah, another package in the cupboard. Why?”
Scooping up the plate she had so neatly arranged, he darted toward the back door without a word. Claudia gaped after him in shock and Mack laughed.
“If you want any, you had better get out the other package, sweetheart. Oreos are a weakness of his. You won’t even get a crumb off the plate without sacrificing your first born,” Mack explained.
Narrowing her eyes, she marched after Ryker, “We’ll just see about that.”
Sure enough, he was noshing on the cookies as he lounged in a lawn chair on the back porch. His long legs were stretched out in front of him so his ass was perched on the edge of the chair. The hem of his t-shirt rose slightly, exposing a slim line of tan skin and the brown curls of hair that led from somewhere under his shirt, to his jeans and beyond. She almost reached out to feel how soft or springy those curly hairs were, but caught herself just in time.
For God’s sake, Claudia, you just finished telling him you were off limits and now you want to molest the man on your porch.
She shook her head and crossed her arms as she stood in front of him. “Ryker, you’re sharing those cookies.”
“No I’m not,” he mumbled through a mouthful of crumbs. “Consider it payment for the job well done.”
“I’ll write you a check instead. Give ‘em.”
She held out her hand and for a moment she thought he might give her the plate. At the last second, he reached out and grabbed her wrist, jerking her down into his arms. Her breasts cushioned against his hard chest, and her legs ended
up straddling one of his thick thighs. Instantly her pussy was gushing into her panties, and her blood pressure rose.
He was smiling down at her, with one hand around her back holding her in place, and the other hand holding the cookies out of reach. There was a crumb on his bottom lip and she reached to brush it away before she even realized what she was doing. His eyelids dropped and his tongue came out to lick the tip of her thumb sending a pulse of need rippling through her system.
The sound of Mack clearing his throat broke through the haze of lust and she felt her cheeks heat up as she scrambled to get out of Ryker’s lap.
“Sorry, duchess. Tackle first, ask questions later.” He didn’t look sorry. He looked satisfied and horny all at once.
Turning to face Mack, she hesitated to address what had just happened. Guilt ate at her. She wasn’t exactly sure how to explain her desire for his younger brother. If he didn’t know how attracted she was to Ryker before, he certainly did now. The worry line splitting his brow in two made her feel like shit.
“Nevermind. I’m not so hungry after all. I think I’ll go on in and shower. You boys feel free to enjoy the refreshments and see yourselves out.”
She made it to the sliding door before Mack stopped her. He gripped her elbow, but his body lined up nicely with her backside and she groaned as the tingles started all over again.
“Don’t worry about it, baby. I’m not upset. Ryker was just playing around. Please sit with us and relax. I want to know more about you.”
Her gaze darted back and forth, taking in Mack’s attempt at nonchalance, and Ryk’s blank expression. The man continued to happily eat her cookies after rocking her to the soles of her feet with just one tumble. Forcing her focus back to Mack, she frowned as she considered all possible outcomes. One misstep would expose her desire for Ryker, and hurt Mack, but she found herself unable to push Ryker away completely either. Something in his feigned indifference reminded her of herself when she was with her father.
Ryker might act like he didn’t care what she or Mack thought of him, but deep down he really did. The knowledge hit her like a truck. Ryker needed to be included. Somehow. She wouldn’t be content to leave him on the sidelines. Perhaps she fit into Stone River better than she ever expected, because she knew in her heart she craved the pair of them equally.
“I’ll give you a cookie if you sit down and play nice.” Ryker’s statement broke through her emotional turmoil, and she jerked around to stare at him. Meeting her gaze steadily, he shrugged, “Mack will mope for months if you run off now. I didn’t realize putting my hands on you upset you so much, duchess, but I’ll be more careful in the future.”
She had hurt him with her quick retreat from his arms. Somehow the gesture exposed a raw nerve for all three of them. Mack felt pushed aside, she felt caught in the middle, and Ryker felt left out. So how did she go about cementing the three pieces of this puzzle together?
“Your touch didn’t upset me. It was you stealing my cookies that did. Don’t you know better than to get between a woman and her Oreos?” She moved closer to him as she spoke, and at the last possible second she reached out and scooped up the last couple of cookies from the plate. The grin that split his face relieved the tension in the air, as she took a seat next to him with a sigh of relief.
*****
Mack watched the byplay between his brother and Claudia with a sense of dread in his throat. Something about the way she looked at Ryker made him nervous. It wasn’t that she seemed to want Ryker more, in fact, she looked at Mack with the same amount of longing and desire. It just seemed they were destined to be in a three-way love triangle and there was no way everyone would walk away unscathed. Resigning himself to the possibility of emotional desolation, he took the empty chair next to Claudia, and threw his arm around the back of her chair. If he and his brother were going to compete, then he was going to make damn sure he started with an advantage.
“Mack told me you got cut from your football team for an injury, right?”
The sound of his name drew his attention back to the conversation just in time to see Ryker grimace at the reminder of his situation.
“Damn. Remind me never to steal her cookies again, man. She goes for the jugular right out of the gate.” Ryker rubbed a hand over his heart dramatically and then nodded, “Yep that sums it up. I took a hard hit that tore up my shoulder. They had to do surgery on me, and now they won’t let me play.”
“Why not exactly? I thought football players were injured all the time. Isn’t there like a medically unfit list or something?” The combined confusion and genuine interest was adorable on her face. Mack couldn’t take his eyes off her. She managed to make eating Oreos look refined and elegant, until she licked the crumbs off her bottom lip. That woke his cock up real quick.
“Injured reserve, and that’s only for players who are out for the season, but can come back next season. It allows the team to fill the spot on the roster. Unfortunately when I came out of surgery the doc said my football days were over.” Ryker’s voice had taken on a hollow haunted tone that warned of impending heavy drinking, and Mack wasn’t going to allow it with Claudia around.
“You know, Claudia, I was hoping to take you horseback riding tomorrow if you’re free. Maybe we could take some sandwiches and make a day of it? I’d like to show you the ranch.” He watched her face closely, but she showed no signs of hesitation when she nodded enthusiastically.
“That would be great! I was going to strip the paint from those shutters, but it can wait for another day. I haven’t been on a horse since I was a teenager.”
Mack grinned at her excitement, “I was hoping you already knew how to ride.”
She tossed her hair, “Damn right I do, cowboy. I wouldn’t be a proper Texas girl if I didn’t.” Wrinkling her nose, she suddenly frowned, “Um, but I haven’t ridden a Western saddle since I was little. I rode English.”
Ryker snorted, “Let me guess, they didn’t think it was proper for a young lady to ride Western? Jesus, your parents must have giant sticks up their—”
“Ryk!” Mack interrupted him with a warning glare.
Claudia just laughed, “It’s true. They didn’t want their only child to turn out to be a regular cowgirl. I had a great trainer and the best horses to learn on. Lessons were every Friday after ballet.”
“You had to ride a horse after dancing all day?” Ryker asked incredulously.
“No, I rode a horse after dancing for a couple of hours. Before ballet was my regular class time with my tutor.” Her mirth had shifted into more of a reserved discomfort, but Ryker barreled on.
“Tutor? I can’t imagine you struggled in school. You seem pretty damn smart to me, duchess.”
A slight sheen of pink blush rose on her cheekbones but she looked him straight in the eye. “No, you’re right I didn’t have trouble with school. I was homeschooled by private tutors. Another benefit of my parents and their giant sticks.”
Ryker seemed to realize his errors and he grimaced, “Sorry, duchess. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”
Interceding, Mack turned to Claudia, “I think it’s time for the two of us to head home. Will you come out to the ranch tomorrow about nine? You take the same road out, but instead of turning at the first right, you take the second one. It leads right up to the big house and the stables. I’ll meet you there.”
“Sounds perfect,” she said with a nod as she rose. “I’ll have to dig out my riding gear. I’m sure it’s packed in a box in the garage.”
Ryker started laughing so Mack smacked him on the back of the head. “Sweetheart, you don’t need any gear. Jeans and a t-shirt will do just fine for this kind of trail ride.”
She hesitated and then nodded, “Of course. I’ll manage.”
“Don’t forget a hat either, duchess. Your skin is too pretty to get burnt up by the sunshine,” Ryker said with a wink.
Mack nodded his agreement, and then took her hand in his. “Walk us out?”
S
he led the way back through the house, but when they reached the front door she hesitated when she pushed the screen door open. Her eyes narrowed on its now silent hinges before she turned and faced them both. “Thank you both for all of your help today. There is no way I would have gotten all of it done without you.”
“You’re welcome. I hope I’m forgiven for my stupidity last night?” Ryker responded as he walked down the front steps.
“Consider it forgotten,” she replied, and the smile he shot her spoke volumes to Mack. There was a plethora of unspoken emotion and longing in his younger brother’s eyes, and he didn’t know how to respond to it. At this point he couldn’t tell him to back off completely because he could see Claudia already cared for him.
A wisp of premonition drifted through his head, and he briefly wondered if they could make a ménage relationship work. He dismissed the idea just as quickly as he recalled Ryker’s confusion and irritation at the Keegan wedding. No, a ménage was not in the cards for the Thompson brothers. Something like that would end up turning into World War three and Mack had no desire to see Claudia caught up in the middle of it.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” he said, brushing a quick kiss over her soft lips. It was tempting to stay and delve deeper into the desire he saw reflected in her hazel eyes, but instead he followed Ryker down the driveway. The two men climbed into their respective vehicles silently, and left Claudia standing on the front porch watching them with a look that held more regret and disappointment than Mack was ready to acknowledge. He could already feel the precarious edge of a cliff under his feet, and he was worried he would fall at any minute.
Chapter Six
Claudia’s stomach was a ball of nerves as she drove under the metal scrollwork words “Brooks Pastures” Sunday morning fifteen minutes early. Even though it had been years since she had ridden, it wasn’t the horses making her jumpy. Mack made her feel things she wasn’t sure she was ready to feel.
