Wrangled (Steele Ranch 2)

I carried everything into the bathroom, set them on the counter. I didn’t close the door, but got changed with a little bit of privacy. I stripped and put on my underwear. My skirt. “I’m sure you can guess. I’m in Boone’s house, wearing his shirt.”

“Cute knee highs,” she commented as I put on my own shirt. “I slept with Cord and Riley the day we met.”

My fingers stilled on the buttons. I turned and stood in the doorway at that bombshell. “You did?”

She gave me a sly smile and her cheeks turned pink. Nodded. “And by slept I mean had wild monkey sex on the front porch of the main house.”

My mouth fell open thinking of that porch. Of sweet Kady getting it on outside like that. With both of those big cowboys. It seemed Kady had an inner slut, and that meant that it was okay for me to wonder about mine. To know that it was okay to have one.

“Oh. Um…wow.”

I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I was highly educated and she’d reduced me to single syllables.

“And you?” Her eyebrow went up and she stared at me with mischievous green eyes.

I went back to work on the buttons so I didn’t have to look at her as I responded. “Well…um, I met them the other day, when I first arrived. Met all the guys from the ranch. Just a quick introduction, nothing more. I didn’t see them again—Jamison and Boone—until last night at the Silky Spur. I…um, I don’t really understand it. Us. It’s a little crazy. I mean, I had sex with them after knowing them only about an hour.”

She stood, waved her had in the air as if it were nothing.

“The way they look at you?” She fanned herself with her hand. “It’s obvious they really want you. And I don’t mean for sexy times.”

I’d never really talked to anyone about sex, or my lack of having it. It had gotten to a point where I’d gotten too old to have the conversation. Every friend in college had had sex before and me asking them questions was too little, too late. And it wasn’t as if my mother had talked to me about sex. She’d only told me never to disgrace the family. That I had to be discreet in everything I did.

I’d made out with two men in a gas station, then slept with them—and by slept I didn’t mean sleep—and then wasn’t discreet about it in the slightest when answering Boone’s door in just his shirt.

“I…um, I’ve never done it before. Last night was my first time.”

Kady’s mouth fell open but then she cocked her head to the side, smiled at me in a wistful way. “How sweet that it was with them. I bet those two went all alpha male on you with that one.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh yeah.”

“Did they make it good for you?” she asked, then waved her hand through the air again. “Never mind. Of course, they did. If they’re anything like my men, then they had you come at least once before they even got inside you, right?”

It was now my turn to blush. I had no intention of telling her we hadn’t used any protection, that they might have gotten me pregnant. That I might be excited about the possibility. I wasn’t ready to explain all of that to her. Not now.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “Emotionally, I mean.”

“Yes.”

“It wasn’t a one-night stand,” she said, as if she knew this for fact. I might have slept with Boone and Jamison, but she’d known them longer. “I’m sure you’re worried about that, even if they’ve said otherwise. I heard about your Masters. Congratulations. That means you’re one smart cookie and you’ll probably analyze all this to pieces. I know I did, and I didn’t have the whole virginity thing to deal with. Whatever they say, believe them. They want you, seriously want you, or you wouldn’t be here.”

“They said they wanted forever.”

She bit her lip and tears came to her eyes. “God, that’s so sweet. We’re trying to have a baby,” she admitted.

Baby? My cell rang from my purse. I went to the chair and pulled it out, saw it was my mother. I swiped the screen to dismiss the call, put the phone away. “Sorry, my mother.”

“You don’t get along with her?”

“No. That conversation is best served with a bottle of wine. Maybe two.” I wasn’t going to say more about my mother. Not now. I was too overwhelmed with everything else. Boone and Jamison. Them wanting forever. Meeting Kady. “So, a baby?” I asked instead, turning the conversation back to her.

She stood, went over to the window, nodded. Cord was riding Boone’s ATV across the big back yard. “Boys and their toys.”

She looked at Cord the same way he’d looked at her earlier. Wistfully.

“You love them.”

She nodded. “Oh yes. Would you believe me if I said it was love at first sight, with both of them?”