Sir Loin of Beef (Grade-A Beefcakes 1)

Jed looked down at Landon. “Call your roofer and get his ass over here in the morning to fix this fucking roof.” To me, his tone softened, he said, “You shouldn’t have to do this.”

I pursed my lips. “I can take care of myself. I have for years. This is just a simple roofing issue and the tarp’s temporary until I can get a contractor to do the repair.”

Jed’s eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. “You shouldn’t have to, baby. If Landon hadn’t been a fucking idiot this morning, you wouldn’t be up here.” His gaze raked over the roof, no doubt seeing the tarp and some of the loose or missing shingles in other areas, but didn’t say more. “All finished?”

I looked back at my patch job. “I have one corner to go with the staple gun.”

He climbed up onto the roof and I remembered how tall he was as I only came up to his shoulder. “Stay right here. Don’t move.”

With long legs, he went over to the tarp, took hold of the staple gun and got the remaining corner tacked down. In less than a minute, he was back at my side.

“Landon, get your ass up here,” he called.

Peeking over the edge, I saw Landon putting his cell away, watching me. He climbed halfway up the ladder, his dark eyes never leaving mine.

“All right, baby. Time to climb down. Landon will be below you on the ladder, I’ll be above. You’ll be safe.”

Jed was being ridiculously overprotective. We were only about ten feet off the ground, and I’d used this ladder many times before. While I didn’t want to fall off, there was grass to soften the landing if I did. But I didn’t argue; the look on his face—and Landon’s—told me they were going to be stubborn. Without saying anything, I worked my way down until I stood on the ground before Landon. Jed hopped down, skipping the last few rungs, effectively trapping me between them.

Nervous, unsure of what to say, I offered a simple, “Thank you.”

They were close. Real close. If I lifted my hand, I could set it on Landon’s chest. Or lower and cup him just like I had the night before. And if I took a half step backward, I’d be against Jed’s hard chest. And hard dick.

“Roofers will be here at seven tomorrow,” Landon said. “The who

le thing will be finished in a day.”

“On a Saturday?” I shook my head. “No way. That’s not necessary. I… um, well, I can’t pay for the whole thing, especially at a weekend rate. You need to cancel or tell them to patch the section just under the tarp.” I grabbed the staple gun out of Jed’s hand and went toward the shed at the side of the house where tools were kept.

They were following, their footsteps heavy even in the grass.

“No,” Landon said.

I stopped, spun on my heel. “No? You can hate me. That’s fine.” I glanced at Jed, pointed. “You can, too. I’ll deal. I’ll stay out of your way. Skip Cassidy’s, wherever else you like to go. Hell, I’m already getting my groceries in Clayton. But you can’t come to my house and boss me around. You can’t have it both ways.”

I was mad now and that was so much better than sad. It helped to keep my tears away because I sooo didn’t want to cry in front of these two. I wouldn’t let them see how much I was hurting.

Realizing I didn’t give a crap about putting the stupid staple gun away, I skipped the shed, just turned and went toward the front of the house. It would be so much easier to avoid them if I shut the door in their faces, but my legs were much shorter than theirs and even at a hustle, they easily kept up, although stayed a step or two behind. Maybe they thought I was dangerous with the staple gun in my hand.

“You’re right,” Landon called.

I was right?

I made it up the porch steps, turned. We were eye-to-eye, both of them before me. Jed’s blue eyes were calm, level on me. Landon took off his hat and I could clearly see his dark ones held no anger, but something else. Something… torn.

“I’m… right?”

“About being bossed around,” Landon admitted. “But I like to be bossy.”

Jed rolled his eyes, punched Landon in the shoulder. “Duke is an asshole and he treated you like shit this morning. He said things he didn’t mean. Right?” Jed looked to Landon.

“I don’t hate you,” Landon said, his eyes on me, not Jed. “Shit, not at all. I shouldn’t have said that. It was mean, hurtful and a total lie.”

I frowned. “Why don’t you hate me?”

“You want me to hate you?” he asked, his eyes wide.

“I don’t want you to hate me,” I refuted. “Of course not. I expect it though.”