Tri-Tip (Grade-A Beefcakes 3)

“As for Roger Beirstad,” Julia continued. “He’s a total asshole and she gets bent out of shape because of him.”

“They give her what she needs,” Ava added. “Duke and Jed.”

Kemp had told me he, Poe and Gus would give me what I needed, but this was something completely different. Kaitlyn needed comforting, not fucking. And the way Duke—as big as he was—held her so carefully, as if she were the most precious thing in the world, was amazing to see.

“I’m hiring,” Ava said, breaking me from my thoughts.

I stared at her, wide-eyed. “What?”

“I’m living here pretty much all the time,” she said. She waved her hand in the air indicating the ranch house. “Winter’s coming and Tucker and Colton aren’t excited about me driving on the roads in and out of town every day. It would be nice to have someone who lived close to the store to take on some shifts, to be available when I can’t make it in.”

“Wow, Ava,” I replied. “I can’t speak for my mom, but the offer sounds great. Maybe something different would be just what she needs.”

“Have her call me at the store and we’ll meet. If she’s put up with Roger Beirstad, she can handle the Seed and Feed. Heck, she probably knows all my customers better than me—and their teeth.”

Poe came inside, towered over Julia and Ava, but looked to me. His intensity was like a living thing, humming about him. “Is your mom okay? We heard what happened.”

I shrugged. “I guess so. She’s surprised and confused.”

“And you?” His gaze raked over me as if I had been physically hurt.

I put my hands on my hips, sighed. “I’m pissed. She said I knew why she was laid off.”

He frowned. “You know why she was laid off or you were the reason for the lay off?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but took a moment to think. “Oh shit. You think Roger laid my mother off because of us? I met you for the first time yesterday.”

He shrugged his broad shoulders and remained silent.

I’d been mad for Momma, mad that Roger was such a total douche, but now, with what Poe was suggesting, it went deeper than that. Roger, who I didn’t even know, hated me so much as to end my mother’s employment.

“I’m not good for you,” he said.

I glanced at him, then at Ava and Julia. I offered them a what the fuck? look. Julia stared at him wide-eyed and Ava just shrugged at me.

I blinked at him a few times before finally answering. “What?”

“Like you said, it’s been a day, us being together. Look what’s happened. Imagine when the whole town finds out. And they will.”

“Finds out, what? That I’m having sex with three men?” I all but shouted.

His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. “Excuse us, ladies,” he said, taking my arm and leading me across the great room and into an office on the other side of the house. He closed the door behind me, offering us some privacy.

“You’re not just having sex with three men, you’re in a relationship,” he clarified, crossing his arms over his big chest. “This is more than fucking and you know it.”

I sighed, relieved. I did, but it was good to have Poe say it aloud. The kiss he’d given me when I arrived wasn’t from someone who planned on fucking and forgetting. It had been as if he were memorizing me. But hearing it made me feel better.

Kemp and Gus came in the room, shut the door behind them, but not before Honey squeezed past and to my side. She sat down and leaned against me, setting her body between me and Poe, as if trying to protect me from him.

“What’s going on?” Gus asked.

I reached down, pet the dog on the head, then crossed my arms over my chest. “Poe says he’s not good for me. Yet he fucked me. So you what, wanted to get off before you got out of… this?” I waved my hand in the air, meaning all of us.

Poe narrowed his eyes at me. “That’s sass and you should be spanked for it.”

I put my hand to my chest. “I should be spanked?” Smoke was probably coming out of my ears. If Poe’s goal was to redirect my anger at Roger Beirstad to him, he’d done the job.

“Don’t make light of what’s between us,” he countered swiping his hand through the air. “Last night wasn’t just fucking. It was our first time. Our last first time.”