by Roma James
Then again, it was still early. There was still plenty of time for something unpredictable to happen.
Just another Tuesday on the Triple J Ranch.
“What’s wrong with you today?” Uncle Justin leaned over to whisper as the old man speaking at the front of the room droned on and on and on about commodities and incremental shipping increases and I don’t even know what else. “You’ve been squirming around in your seat like you’ve got ants in your pants.”
Damn.
Was I being that obvious?
“I just can’t get comfortable,” I lied. Well, it wasn’t a total lie. The rows of long wooden benches in the cavernous meeting room couldn’t have been made with comfort in mind. But my aching bottom wasn’t the only reason I couldn’t sit still today.
“They should be wrapping things up pretty soon.” He reached over to give my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “And then we can head back home. Doesn’t seem like much of anything is going to get accomplished here anyway.”
I snorted, then tried to disguise the noise as a cough when I caught more than a few disapproving looks from the guys sitting around us.
But seriously, did anything ever get accomplished at these meetings? I’d been to a few over the past year, and they mostly seemed to be an excuse for every rancher in a fifty-mile radius to get together and complain about… well, everything.
And to make matters worse, I couldn’t even find my favorite distractions—aka the two most deliciously sexy men I’d ever seen, Boone Tate and Cade Winslow. Seeing the two of them, even from a distance, was the only part of these meetings I looked forward to, but I couldn’t find them among the sea of cowboy hats today.
Maybe they’d skipped this meeting. I sure couldn’t blame them for that. Their ranch was almost as big as ours, and Lord knows Uncle Justin and I could have made much better use of our time by staying home today.
If they were here, though, I wanted to find them. I hated the thought that we might all be in the same room together but I might miss the chance to talk to them anyway. I also hated the thought of having to linger by the door just to be sure as everyone else filed out of the meeting room, but I wasn’t above doing it.
Uncle Justin could wait in the truck for all I cared, but I needed my cowboy fix.
And then, just as the meeting ended and the first few people started to stand up, I saw them.
It was no wonder I’d missed them at first. Cade and Boone were all the way on the other side of the room and had already started moving toward the exit. If I didn’t get over there fast—like, right now—I’d probably miss them anyway.
“Hey, where are you going?” Uncle Justin nudged me as I tried to bolt past him. “We parked out back, remember? This way.” He pointed toward the door behind us. “You sure you’re okay today, sweetie? You’ve been acting awfully strange since we got here.”
“I just saw Boone Tate and Cade Winslow,” I said, nodding in their direction. “I want to say hi before we leave.”
My uncle scowled, but I pretended not to notice. I was already moving past him, using my hips and elbows and anything else I could to catch my cowboys before they made it out the door.
I understood why he wasn’t thrilled. Cade and Boone were at least ten years older than I was. Maybe fifteen. I’d never really asked. But it was probably pretty natural for my uncle to feel a little over-protective of me, especially after my parents’ accident.
And it probably didn’t help that I was pretty obviously trying to flirt with both of them at the same time. Poor Uncle Justin was probably scandalized every time we went to one of these dumb meetings together, but I just couldn’t help myself.
I wanted both of them. And I wanted both of them to know it.
I finally made eye contact with Cade across the crowd, and I gave a little wave as if I just happened to be there fighting against the flow of people and it just happened to be a coincidence that they happened to be right in my line of sight.
Pathetic, right?
I knew it was, but I preferred to think of myself as determined instead. And honestly? There weren’t a lot of bright spots in my life these days. Seeing these guys every month or so was one of the few things I could actually look forward to on a regular basis.
So, I didn’t care if it was pathetic or unseemly or whatever. When it came to this one tiny part of my life, I was going full steam ahead.
Before I could get any closer, though, I felt a tug at my sleeve. I half-turned, ready to tell my uncle that I just needed a couple of minutes, but then couldn’t help but frown when I saw that it wasn’t my uncle at all.
“Did you need something, Nora?” I asked, pulling away and not even trying to hide my irritation as I lost sight of Cade and Boone again. “I’m sort of in a hurry, so I don’t really have time to talk.”
I knew I was being rude, and I didn’t care at all. Nora Statler might have had a pretty smile, but it wasn’t enough to hide her ugly personality. I didn’t like her, and she didn’t like me, and the sooner I could get away from her and back to my guys, the better.
“This won’t take long,” she promised, side-stepping so that she was standing directly in my way. “I just wanted to ask if you’ve thought more about the offer I made the last time we spoke. That offer won’t be good forever, you know.”
I rolled my eyes. Seriously? This again? “My answer is still the same,” I said. “And it isn’t going to change, so you can save yourself the trouble of ever asking me again. The Triple J Ranch isn’t for sale. Period.”
Her fake smile didn’t falter, but her eyes narrowed just a bit. Such cold eyes. Like a shark. “So young and full of pride. So sure of yourself. I’d probably respect that if it wasn’t so misplaced. But rumor has it that your little ranch isn’t doing so well. Rumor has it you’re just barely scraping by.” She gave a half-shrug and laughed a little as if we were talking about something cute and fun. God, I wanted to knock that smug smile right off her face. “It’s probably best that you won’t accept my offer, anyway. Why should I overpay now when I can get a better deal once it goes into foreclosure?”
My fingernails were digging into my palms, and I realized that I’d balled my hands into fists. She really had no idea how close I was to making a scene, did she?
When I spoke again, it took every ounce of willpower I had to keep my voice steady. “You are a real piece of—”
“Okay, we really should be going now,” my uncle interrupted, stepping between us so that his body took up my whole field of vision. “Looks like it might be best if we all called it a day,” he continued, pinning Nora with a hard look. “Good day to you, Mrs. Statler.”
If she said anything else, I didn’t hear it.
And just… whatever.
I didn’t give a damn.
My uncle was right. We needed to go. Well, she needed to go. I needed something else.
“Boone… Cade,” I called, finally catching sight of them again as I pressed through the thinning crowd. Just a few more steps and I was finally, finally standing in front of them, feeling sort of lightheaded as they both smiled down at me. “I was hoping I’d get a chance to see you guys today.”
And I’ve been stalking you across the meeting hall like a jungle panther, so I hope you don’t mind.
“We were hoping the same thing,” Cade said, smiling even wider as his eyes dropped to the low-cut neckline of the blouse I’d specifically chosen with a moment like this in mind.
Best decision of the day.
“How have you been, Janessa?” Boone’s deep voice made my insides start to melt like butter. “Always a pleasure to see your pretty face at these meetings.”
I was pretty sure I saw Cade cut his eyes in Boone’s direction, but if I was being completely honest, it was damn hard to be certain while wondering what it would feel like to be pinned between both of their hard, tanned bodies.
I blushed at the thought. Not like that would ever happen in a million years, of course. I knew they were just
being nice right now. But I’d heard stories about them that kept me up more than a few nights. Stories about how they didn’t mind sharing…
“Janessa.” My uncle’s voice pulled me from my thoughts and startled a small, embarrassing squeak from the back of my throat. I felt like I’d been caught with my hand in the cookie jar, but… he couldn’t possibly know what I was thinking just now, right? God, I really would die if it was that obvious. “We have to go, sweetie. I can’t keep chasing you around this meeting hall all afternoon.” Belatedly, he added, “Cade, Boone, good to see y’all again, but you’ll have to excuse us. My niece and I were just—”
“Just hoping the two of you would join us for dinner,” I interrupted, earning a deep scowl from my uncle and a couple of half-surprised, half-amused looks from Cade and Boone. “Isn’t that right, Uncle Justin? We’ve got plenty of room and plenty of food, and I was just thinking earlier about how I wanted to fry up a bunch of chicken.”
I looked from my uncle’s face to Cade and Boone, then back again. My uncle was still frowning but finally sighed and shook his head. “I suppose it has been a while since we’ve had company over for supper. Unless, of course, these guys already have other plans?”
He gave Cade and Boone a pointed look, and there was no doubt about how he wanted them to answer.
“I’m pretty sure we’re free this evening,” Cade said and grinned.
Boone nodded, and I could hear my uncle groan a little as I clasped my hands together.
“Perfect,” I said, mirroring the smile that had already spread from Cade’s face to Boone’s. “We’ll see you around seven, and I’ll make sure you’re taken care of. Best fried chicken in the county.”
What I didn’t say out loud was that I wanted to take care of them in so many other ways, too.
And from the way they were both looking at me?
I was starting to wonder if they might just let me.
Chapter 3
Boone
“I know what you’re thinking,” Cade said, looking over at me from the corner of his eye as he turned onto the dirt road that led to the Triple J Ranch. “And you’re wrong, just for the record.”
I laughed. “Am I?” He was keeping his eyes on the road, but I still hoped he could tell from the tone of my voice that I knew exactly what he was up to. “So we’re not driving a hundred miles out of the way just so you can have an excuse to spend a little time with Janessa Thoreson? Because I know you’re not going to try and tell me it’s because you’re craving some fried chicken.”
The corner of his mouth twitched and I knew I was right. Not that there had been any doubt at all in my mind.
“You’ve gotta admit,” he said, half-shrugging, still clearly trying to hold back a grin, “fried chicken sounds pretty damn good right now. I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving,” I shot back. Again, nothing but the truth. “Seriously, though, Cade. She’s too young. We both know it. So I don’t know how anything good is going to come from us following her home like a couple of lost puppy dogs.”
His smile finally broke free. “Do you always have to be the rational one? Can’t you just stop worrying and have a little fun every once in a while?”
I didn’t bother responding to the little dig at my personality. One of us had to be responsible, right? And I knew from a lifetime of experience that it sure as hell wasn’t going to be my buddy Cade. He just wasn’t wired that way. He wore his heart on his sleeve and was always looking for a new adventure.
And when it came to women?
Yeah… he let his dick do the thinking all the time. That sort of thing might have been funny when we were in our twenties, but damn. We were a lot closer to forty than twenty these days, and I wouldn’t always be around to bail him out of every boneheaded decision he made.
All that aside, he had a good head for business, and he was closer to me than my own family, so I still tried to cut him some slack every now and then.
But not with Janessa Thoreson.
I just couldn’t.
“I know how to have fun,” I said, finally replying in spite of myself. He knew me as well as I knew him, and that included knowing exactly what buttons to push. “But it’s obvious you want her. Just admit it.”
“Sure.” He shrugged. “I’ll admit it when you do. Because it’s obvious you want her, too.”
I opened my mouth to deny it but couldn’t. And even if I had denied it, Cade would’ve known I was lying. We’d both had our eyes on Janessa since she moved back home from college, but there was just no getting around the fact that she was too damn young.
“But it isn’t going to happen,” I said. “We both want her, and she’s too inexperienced to even think about sharing.”
Not that I hadn’t thought about it.
A lot.
Mostly alone in my room with my right hand. But no. There just wasn’t a way that I could see to make it work.
“What are we going to do, then?” Cade asked as we made one last turn onto the long driveway that led up to the house Janessa shared with her uncle. “If I can’t have her and we can’t share?”
“Then neither of us can have her,” I said. “We’re damn sure not going to let a woman come between our friendship. That would just be stupid.”
No matter if the woman in question was so pretty and wholesome and sweet that I hadn’t been able to get her off my mind for weeks.
“Fine,” Cade said, though I could tell he wasn’t very happy with my assessment. “I guess you’re right.” He looked over at me as we parked in front of the house. “So, we have an agreement? Hands off?”
“Hands off.” I nodded.
Now we just had to stick to that agreement.
The delicious smell of fried food was making my stomach rumble as I slowly walked through the Thoresons’ house. The Thoresons were among a handful of large land-owning ranchers left in the county—along with Cade and me—so I’d been to the ranch a few times over the years, but only for business and never left on my own to walk through their actual house.
Now, though, having excused myself to the restroom while Janessa had gone off to finish cooking dinner and Cade and Justin had been busy talking cattle, I had time to look around and appreciate what a nice house it was.
A big, Victorian two-story farmhouse, it was old and impressive but still felt warm and lived in. There were family pictures lining the walls and generations of knick-knacks that I could have spent hours looking at.
My stomach rumbled again, reminding me that I wasn’t here on a sight-seeing tour. I just needed to make my way to the kitchen, which should be an easy enough task since my feet had already started carrying me there of their own free will in anticipation of Janessa’s fried chicken.
When I finally stopped in the kitchen doorway, though, I didn’t see any sign of Justin or Cade. What I did see was enough to make me forget all about my stomach as the rest of my body suddenly stood up and took notice.
Janessa was standing at the stove with her back to me in denim shorts that were so short I had a hard time looking at anything but her long, tanned legs for several seconds.
Jesus, it should be a crime to look like that. That perfect mix of sexy and innocent that only a woman her age could really pull off. And Janessa Thoreson pulled it off really, really well.
It was only after I got a good, hard look at every inch of those legs that I realized she was wearing a tiny white shirt that seemed to be nothing but a few inches of fabric held together by the thinnest little straps I’d ever seen. It covered everything, of course, but even from the back I could tell that it wouldn’t leave much to the imagination.
Fuck, was she trying to give me a heart attack?
I really needed to find Cade, if for no other reason than to make sure I kept my end of our agreement. Because right now it was taking every ounce of self-control not to give in to every single sexy urge that was going through my head.
I had even taken a step closer somehow, th
ough I hadn’t realized I’d moved at all. She was like some sort of beautiful, sexy, forbidden blonde magnet, and I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to resist.
Except then I noticed something else.
She sniffled, and her bare shoulders shivered even though it had to be at least ninety degrees where she was standing over the hot stove.
I took another step closer, craning my neck to try to see her face, but a few strands of long hair were in the way. Then she sniffled again, and I knew something was wrong.
“Are you okay?” I asked, cringing as she jumped and let out a muffled little squeak that would have been absolutely adorable if it hadn’t been for the tears that were streaming down her face when she turned to look at me. “I’m sorry,” I said, not even trying to stop myself from closing the distance between us to put an arm around her. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just… what’s the matter? What happened?”
She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and didn’t say a word for several long seconds. I could feel the rise and fall of her breasts pressing against my side with each shallow breath she took, and fuck if it didn’t make me squeeze her a little tighter.
“I was… I didn’t think…” She swallowed hard and took a deep breath before reaching up to wipe her damp cheeks. “I didn’t know you were still in here. I thought you went with Cade and my uncle.”
Oh, right. Cade and Justin. I probably should have been wherever they were.
I reluctantly took a step back to put a little more space between us but didn’t completely remove my hand from her back until I could see that the tears seemed to have completely stopped.
“Where are they?” I asked, finally breaking away from her gaze to look around the kitchen. I’d been so caught up with her—first in admiring her, then in trying to figure out why she was crying—that I honestly hadn’t even realized Cade and Justin were missing until she’d mentioned them. “And are you okay? You never answered why you’re here all alone and crying. Did something happen?”
