T-Bone (Grade-A Beefcakes 2)

I glanced back at Colton and Tucker, who were silent. Waiting. I wasn’t in any kind of physical danger, so they probably wanted to hear how this was all going to shake out before they made any kind of move. It didn’t make sense to knock a guy unconscious when he had information you wanted. Still, he’d insulted me so I was surprised they were holding back.

“You’ve been keeping an eye on me, know what my life is like now. No jets. No fancy cars,” I countered. “I’ve been cut off. I’m no value to Perry.”

“But not written out of the will,” he clarified. “You’re still the sole heir to the Carter money. And that goes back generations. Just because you choose to drive an old pickup truck and play store owner doesn’t mean you aren’t a billionaire.”

Oh yes, my life in Montana was like elementary school recess until I decided to return to the grown up world. I was well aware of the Carter money and how it became so plentiful.

“It won’t take much to ruin your reputation,” he added, as if he were trying to turn the screw on my acquiescence a little tighter. “If your father goes down, so do you. You’re a Carter, too.”

“Not for long,” Colton said. “She’ll be Ava Ridge soon.”

I looked up at Colton, saw he was staring right at me. Not in anger, but in want. He didn’t need fists to protect me. He could just give me his name. But I didn’t want it just because I had to be married to someone else so Perry couldn’t have me or the Carter money. I wanted Colton—and Tucker—because they wanted me. And Colton didn’t need to say a thing about that. While it might have sounded like a bluff to mystery man, it wasn’t to me. They’d proved they wanted me. Really wanted me since they first saw me. It had annoyed me to no end at first. But now, looking back? It was exactly what I needed. I didn’t need a weak man. I didn’t need a man who’d be controlling or want to change me. Colton and Tucker liked me—loved even?—just the way I was. Manicured nails and lassoing steers at the same time. They didn’t even know I was the heir to the Carter empire until just recently. Colton wanted to marry me. Tucker, too. They’d said as much before. And I believed him now.

I took his hand. Gripped it fiercely. Yes, I wanted to be Ava Ridge. Very much. A quick peek at Tucker and I could tell he liked that idea as well. I could only legally marry one man and he didn’t seem bothered it wasn’t going to be him. I had to assume that since we did butt stuff the night before—with pictures to prove it—he wasn’t too concerned about being left out.

“Tell Perry he can do whatever the hell he wants, except marry me. I’m going home.”

Colton pulled me in close, still holding my hand. Tucker came up behind me.

“Ava, please!” my father shouted. “I’ll go to prison.”

I turned to him, narrowed my eyes. God, he was pitiful. I imagined his executive look being replaced by prison orange.

“Like you said, I made my bed, Father. You made yours.”

11

COLTON

* * *

“I can’t believe he kept trying to get in touch with Ava to save his own bacon!” Kaitlyn said, all riled up. We were standing along the fence of the horse ring, watching Gus Duke barrel race. When Mrs. Duke heard of Ava’s skill with a lasso and the idea that had been tossed around of having a family mini-rodeo competition, she’d run with it.

Everyone was at the ranch for a picnic and a day of fun. A table with a checked cloth had been set out with food and drinks. The guys who worked the ranch were participating, along with Duke and Jed, who’d competed in the professional circuit for years. Gus, the youngest of the Duke boys—although not the smallest—just circled the third barrel. He wasn’t a champion like his older brother, but he could hold his own. Julia was here as well, sitting atop her horse waiting her turn.

Mrs. Duke was the timekeeper, standing to the right of us where the fence gate was open. She was ready to stop the timer once Gus circled all three barrels and his horse sprinted past through the opening. Tucker was with her, his forearms resting on the rail, one boot up. While he and his mother were chatting, he only had eyes for Ava.

Our girl was with Mr. Duke by the sandwiches, who was using big hand gestures as he spoke with her, even while holding a bottle of squeeze mustard. He could have been speaking about anything, from wrangling a bear to the size of his last load of laundry. Whatever they were talking about, she was laughing. I smiled just because she was smiling.

A man who was a father to more than just his four kids.

Long gone was her stuffy business suit—which she’d looked hot as hell in—and in its place were jeans and her cowboy boots. She had on one of Tucker’s t-shirts with the bottom tied into a knot at her waist. Her hair was up in a ponytail and her makeup was just something shiny on her lips. While she lacked her usual high-maintenance polish, I’d never seen her so beautiful.

It had been two days since we walked out of her father’s office in Denver. At Ava’s request, her father’s crochety personal assistant had been good for something; the plane had been ready and waiting for us to leave within the hour. We hadn’t said a word once we left her father all desperate and pathetic, at the mercy of the asshole Perry’s man. It wasn’t until we were in the air and able to take off our seatbelts did Ava crawl into my lap—a private jet had nice big comfortable seats—and cried.

T had been in the seat across from us and looked a mix between relieved and pained that she was so upset. I’d just been content that she’d trusted us enough to let down the walls I knew she’d built for that conversation. Fuck, it had been a total cluster. I’d expected her dad to be an asshole, but to offer her up to an extortionist and a bla

ckmailer to save his sorry ass, well… shit.

I ached for her, knowing the man who was supposed to love a daughter unconditionally, to protect her with his fucking life, was nothing but a complete and total sham. She’d known, walked away even, but perhaps held out hope he’d someday come around, to see she was worth being proud of. But no. That confrontation in his office had proved it. And so she’d cried for what was never going to happen. What would never be. She wanted a family, people who truly cared and loved her. Valued her. Honored her.

T and I would give her that. But first, we’d let her cry, let her mourn, for her last shreds of hope for anything with the Carters had surely died. We didn’t say anything, I just stroked her back, kissed the top of her head until she fell asleep in my arms.

She hadn’t cried again and we hadn’t talked much about what had happened, but when she wasn’t working, she’d holed herself up in Mr. Duke’s old study with her laptop and cell phone. She’d said she was working on getting info about Perry. I wasn’t sure what she was up to exactly, but we let her have her space. She was smart as fuck and we weren’t going to get in her way. She was a part of our life now, but we weren’t experts in her past. In the fucked up ways of her family, of her family’s business.

Her father hadn’t called or texted. Nothing from her mother either. There’d been no news of her father going to jail. No news at all and so we waited. We’d been careful with her since, gentle hugs, kisses, tender lovemaking. She’d slept with me when we got home from Denver, T last night, but she’d been distracted. We hadn’t wanted to let her out of our sight, so we kept her close. I’d stayed with her at the store the day before helping out—or at least trying to stay out of the way. Today, being Sunday, the store was closed.

Her sexy promise in the elevator to let us do whatever we wanted would happen. I hadn’t forgotten about it and I was sure T hadn’t either. Sometime soon we’d get her between us, get her riled up so our tiger was back, but not yet. We had all the time in the world.