Tangled (Steele Ranch 3)

Crawling up onto the bed beside me, Archer kissed my shoulder as his hand slid lower. “Don’t worry, you will be.”

12

ARCHER

* * *

Two days. Two days of being with Cricket and it had been fabulous. Besides taking her to the sheriff’s office in Missoula to give a statement about the assholes from the strip club and getting some clothes from her apartment, we’d had a good time. Hell, that wasn’t right. It had been great. Shit. I couldn’t think of what to call it. It wasn’t great either. It was better than great.

Usually, my days off in the summer were filled with sleeping in, a few beers, maybe a fishing float trip, possibly even camping. I hadn’t expected Cricket to just appear as if by magic back into our lives. Hell, after a year, I hadn’t expected her to appear at all. But the time off had been incredible. Besides the sex, which was off the charts, getting to know her, awake and dressed had been really eye opening. First, because I wanted to get to know a woman while awake and dressed. Second, I wasn’t thinking about getting her undressed. That wasn’t quite right. I was always thinking about Cricket naked, but there was so much more to her than her gorgeous tits or her perfect pussy.

She was smart. Driven. Ambitious. Fierce. Sweet. She was everything I wanted in a woman but never knew because I’d never met her. She was the one. The One. I’d come to that realization when the lights were out that first night in the Poulson hotel room. I’d known it since, wishing I’d be able to just fucking find her. Being a sheriff and not be able to track someone down was almost cruel. And now that we had her, it just felt…right.

Except for Sutton. The fucker needed to get his head out of his ass. I knew he’d been through stuff on his deployment he never mentioned and never would. It had changed him. He’d returned from his last stint overseas different. Harder. While he was out of the service now, the light in him, that casual happiness he’d always had, was gone. In its place? Darkness. Hints of despair. Guilt. Sadness.

The weekend he’d met Cricket, I’d been glad he’d found a woman to bed, to let loose and forget. Let his dick be in charge for once. When he’d texted the next night and wanted me and Lee to join him, to take the woman together as one of her fantasies, we’d been all for it. Hell, my dick was stirring even now at the memory. Sharing a woman with friends was a spank-bank fantasy of every guy. But within minutes of showing up at Sutton’s hotel room, we’d known it was more than that. Cricket was more. So were his reasons for us being there.

He’d wanted her, but he’d needed us to be there, too. He’d been scared of himself. That he’d somehow hurt her. That was impossible. I’d known Sutton since we were kids. He would never hurt a woman. Ever. Besides his momma whooping his ass, he wasn’t that kind of man. While the idea was ridiculous, he believed it.

But Cricket had left. Disappeared. Then, it hadn’t mattered. She hadn’t been around so there was no reason for him to worry. He hadn’t been interested in other women. Neither had we. He’d wanted Cricket.

Only Cricket.

He’d hardened further after that, been a fucking pain in the ass to be around. Sullen. Brooding. More brooding than usual, which was almost impossible. For a fucking year, he’d been depressed, wishing he’d given Cricket his number, regretting not telling her how much she’d meant to him, to all of us.

Then she’d shown up. She was a fucking Steele heiress. She wasn’t going anywhere. We knew how to find her. Hell, she was Sutton’s damned boss, if that wasn’t fuck all. But still, he was afraid of her—although he wouldn’t admit it. Of himself with her.

For two days, we’d been with her. Riding horses, going for walks. Talking. Fucking. Lots of fucking. But when it was time to go to sleep, Sutton had kissed her on the forehead and walked out the front door. Since Cricket wasn’t an idiot, she knew it wasn’t normal.

She’d been able to coax smiles out of Sutton. Make him laugh. Hell, he’d been spontaneous and upbeat. He’d been the man she wanted. In control, dominant and doting. He was sweet and gentle one minute, dark and intense the next, especially when she was on her knees submitting. She blossomed under his command and he reveled in a woman needing his power. Cricket knew Sutton was off and that it was because of her. No man who had his balls intact—or his right mind—would walk away from Cricket when he could have her in bed all night wrapped warm and naked in his arms.

Except for Sutton. I knew his balls were intact, but I still didn’t know if he was in his right mind. But he wouldn’t talk. So my thoughts went in a fucking full circle because while we had Cricket now, Sutton was the one who’d brought us all together, and he was the one who was going to drive her away.

When Sutton kissed her on the forehead and walked out the door tonight like he had every other night since she’d shown up, Cricket cried. I went over to her, wrapped her in my arms and looked to Lee. He looked as pissed as I felt. The fucker had made her cry.

That was not allowed. This soft, caring, perfect woman was upset because of Sutton. I kissed the top of her head as we stood in the kitchen.

“Do you want me to go and beat him up?” I asked, stroking my hand up and down her back.

“I will,” Lee added, cracking his knuckles.

She huffed out a laugh against my chest, used my shirt to wipe her cheeks. “No, I’m fine. I just don’t understand.”

“We can’t be the ones to tell you what’s going on in that thick skull of his, baby,” Lee told her. “He has to.”

She nodded. “You’re right, but it still hurts. It’s like he’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He’s perfect all day long and then…poof.”

“Tell you what. Forget about Sutton for now. The version we all like will be back in the morning. In the meantime, you’ve got two big, brawny cowboys ready to make all of your dreams come true,” I told her.

She saw the smile on my face and I backed it up with a wink.

“All of my dreams?” she asked, her expression softening. Her hands loosened their grip on my shirt, and I could tell she was feeling better.

“All of your sex dreams,” Lee clarified, stroking a finger over her cheek.

She bit her lip and looked up at him through her lashes.

“Oh, baby, I’d like to be able to read your mind right now,” he added.