Ruled (Outlaws #3)

“That’s a given.” She felt, rather than saw, Rylan’s cheeks move as he broke out in a large smile. “And the fucking. No better fucking on earth than at Foxworth.”


Sloan’s big hand crossed over Reese’s head to slap the side of Rylan’s skull. A love tap, really, because she knew he was too spent from the sex to put any power behind it.

They all were. Like little children at naptime, they all lay in a sweaty, happy row staring at the ceiling.

“Baby, get your hunter to find us a better mattress,” Rylan told her. “We’re going to destroy this thing in a week.”

Her heart leapt in excitement before the fear inside her grabbed her and pulled her back to earth. She felt Sloan’s eyes fix on her, and when she turned her head slightly, she saw the unspoken questions. Are you all right? Was this good for you?

She and Sloan had crossed a line tonight. As good as it had been, and as much as she wanted to do it again and again and again, there was as much apprehension as there was satisfaction swirling in her blood.

Sloan’s arm was still extended, and Rylan tipped his head into Sloan’s palm as if neither of them wanted to lose the connection they’d built tonight. Reese, meanwhile, lay cocooned between their two big bodies. If she turned her head to the right or left, she could place a kiss on the side of either man’s broad chest.

The mattress might not be thick or white, but it was big. Sloan had hauled it back with him shortly after Jake died. Her old one had been covered in a pool of blood, and Sloan had removed it immediately after killing Jake. He’d taken the body, the mattress, the clothes, and burned it all outside of Foxworth. And the next night, he’d left. Gone for more than a day, and when he’d returned, he’d had this futon frame in the back of his truck.

But even though Sloan had done his best to erase Jake from Foxworth, the ghost of the dead man still haunted Reese.

Some things couldn’t be burned away.

Rylan must’ve felt the growing tenseness of her body, because the good ol’ boy, the one with the ready smile and equally ready erection, rolled his head to the side and frowned deeply. “You thinking about Bethany?” he asked cautiously.

She didn’t know why she turned to Sloan for direction. She just did.

Sloan searched her face and murmured, “Tell us what happened back there.”

She blinked, surprised he was encouraging her to talk in front of Rylan. It felt almost like . . . an invitation to something even more intimate than sex.

One of the best things about fighting and fucking, as she was sure Rylan would attest to, was that those were straightforward activities with straightforward rewards. Fuck and fight and get a burst of adrenaline that carried you to the next round of physical exertions.

Lying in bed and cozying up to a partner wasn’t something Reese was used to, at least not since Jake. Even with Sloan, her trusted advisor, the one who knew all of her secrets, she kept part of herself closed off.

Now they both wanted to flay her open, and Reese felt suffocated. She felt—

“It’s okay, sweetheart. If you don’t want to talk about it, don’t.” Sloan’s free hand came over to stroke down her arm as if she was a child in need of comfort.

That raised her hackles. With thin lips and a glare at Sloan, she said, “I want one. A baby. But I can’t have one.”

She waited for their pity with fisted hands. When both men continued to stare at the ceiling, as if her admission was no big deal, some of her tension began to fade.

Reese forced her fingers open. “The council never allows the firstborns to breed. They don’t want any of the commoners to have a strong lineage.” She took a deep breath, and added, “They sterilized me.”

“That sucks,” Rylan said.

Those two simple words leeched away the last of her anger. She wasn’t sure why she’d expected some sort of judgment, but the fact that Rylan didn’t think less of her for wanting a kid or falling apart brought a rush of warmth to her chest. Like Sloan, this man just . . . accepted her.

“I never thought about having kids,” he admitted.

“Me neither,” Sloan spoke up.

“You already had one. You were practically Jake’s parent.” The thought popped in Reese’s head and out her mouth before she realized it.

“Yeah, and look how good that turned out. I don’t want that responsibility again.” Sloan rolled on his side and placed a hand on her hip.

The meaningful pressure from that touch told her he didn’t want to bring Jake into this bed or this room, and sure enough, he was quick to change the subject.

“Rylan, you were pretty good back there,” he said gruffly. “With Bethany.”

“I told you, I grew up on a farm. We didn’t have a lot of animals, but I witnessed a birth or four.” Rylan caught the edge of his lower lip in his mouth and shifted closer to Reese. “The council sucks, no doubt, but people outside of it aren’t so great either.”

Sloan reached out and stroked Rylan’s hair away from his forehead. “Evil’s evil. It doesn’t need to be ugly or wear a council robe.”