Chapter Eight
Saturday dawned clear and warm, and Zoey allowed herself the luxury of sleeping in late. Of course, to anyone else eight-thirty a.m. wasn’t late, but in her book that was wasting half the day. The house was quiet as she fixed herself coffee and toast. Her thoughts kept circling around the brothers and their conversation last night.
She had to be completely honest with herself, there was no way to make everyone happy, so it wasn’t even worth trying. Instead, she would focus on enjoying the time she had with Clint and Dalton before she moved on. It wasn’t like Stone River was a mecca of the dating world, it could be years before she had sex again, so that was at the top of her to do list with the Keegan men.
Knowing that all three of them desired her sexually put an extra bounce in her step as she dressed and headed out to the barn. For the first time in years she was going to embrace her inner seductress and enjoy it.
Clint was in the barn working when she stepped inside. She took a second to admire the snug fit of his jeans, and the broad sweep of his shoulders from afar. He had settled right back into the ranching life as if he never left, and it suited him.
“Morning, cowboy,” she called out as she stepped over to pat a mare in the first stall.
His head came up and a wide grin split his face, deepening the cleft in his chin, and enhancing whatever it was that made him so damn attractive. “Morning, angel.” He dropped the crate of tools he was holding to the floor, and made a beeline for her. Just before he reached her side, he paused to check out her backside in her favorite pair of jeans. “Damn, you are one sexy woman, Zoey Carson.”
She cringed in her head when she heard herself giggle like a teenager. Did mature women planning to have an affair giggle at compliments?
“Thank you. What are you working on today?” she asked, feeling warmer when his hands found her hips and turned her into the cove of his body.
“Hmm? Oh, a little of this and a little of that, nothing so important that I can’t leave it for now. How about a little romp in the hay?” His eyebrows wiggled, and she caught herself before she giggled again.
“I was thinking more about going for a ride.”
Immediately she knew he had the wrong idea, but she enjoyed the way his face seemed to light up at the suggestion, so she didn’t correct it. “Oh, baby, you’re speaking my language now!” His head dipped as he kissed her breathless, pressing her back against the rough wood of the stall behind her.
It took every bit of inner will power to push him away and shake her head, “No, I don’t mean riding a cowboy, I mean riding a horse. I haven’t had a chance to refresh my skills, and I’ve been on the ranch for a week. Do you think Tanner would mind?”
Clint looked thoroughly dejected, “Am I so resistible that you would rather have a horse between your thighs than me?”
Zoey pressed a finger to his pouting lips. “Not a chance and you know it. However, I am not interested in a lecture from Tanner should he happen to catch us, and I am not a closet exhibitionist. I prefer my private life be private.”
Clint’s smile grew again, “Now that’s an answer I’ll accept, because ya didn’t say no. Come on, we’ll saddle up a couple of horses and explore the ranch together. Tanner has added some land to the Triple T that I haven’t gotten to check out yet.”
They were in the saddle in record time, and Zoey laughed along with Clint as he pointed out various spots and told stories from when the three boys were young. A little smidge of her was envious of their fantastic childhood. She had always dreamed about having parents who were responsible enough that she could be childishly irresponsible. Instead of swinging from trees and tipping cows, she was making herself dinner and dodging the bill collectors’ phone calls. In a quiet moment, Clint turned and looked at her carefully.
“How long have you been in love with Tanner?”
If she hadn’t been holding the reins in her hands she might have fallen out of the saddle in shock. “What?”
“After you went to sleep last night Dalton and I talked for a while. We both know you’re in love with Tanner, but we also know that you’re attracted to the two of us. Is it too much to hope that you might be open to a ménage relationship long term?”
Zoey couldn’t speak. She just gaped at him. Clint was the fun brother, not the serious one, but here he was asking her a very serious question. Forcing herself to continue breathing, she shrugged.
“Tanner and I have a history, yes. I’m not sure that I know what love is to be able to say I’m in love with him.” She was startled to see a glimmer of fear in his tawny brown eyes when she looked over at him. “I don’t know if a ménage relationship would work for the four of us. I really don’t know you and Dalton that well yet. I can’t say yes to it, but I won’t say no either.”
He gave her a reassuring wink, “That’s all I can ask for, angel. Give us some time to show Tanner that this could work.”
“Why are you so sure that it could? You’ve only been back in Texas for a week, and I don’t think you’ve even been into town more than twice yet.”
It was Clint’s turn to shrug. “I once asked pops how he knew that mama was the right woman for him, and he told me sometimes you just know. They met at a church picnic, and mama was already going steady with another guy. Pops says it was love at first sight for him and he wasn’t about to let her go without a fight. It took him six months to convince her he was serious about her, and four years of asking to get her to marry him.”
“Wow! Most people would have given up after four years.”
“What’s a few years when you have a lifetime ahead of you? Angel, I’m nothing but a broke down man who couldn’t make it as an actor. Just knowing you’ll consider me, makes me the happiest I’ve been in years.”
Zoey glanced at him warily to see if he was joking, but his expression remained serious. “I’m not sure I’m worthy of such adoration, Clint. I’m not exactly Miss America, and the only stories I can tell from my childhood are ones that involve mom getting high in the living room while I tried to study, or sleep. I never even knew where my dad was most of the time. Seems to me that trying to reach for your dreams, and failing, is a whole lot better than never trying.”
Clint stopped his horse, and his brown eyes bored into hers searching her gaze for something. “Angel, you couldn’t have uttered a more perfect phrase. I knew you were perfect for me.”
“Ha! You’re just getting to know me. Trust me, I’m not always an angel.”
A wicked glint appeared in his eyes as he laughed, “Good. I can’t wait to see you let the devil loose. I bet she’s a lot of fun.”
Zoey laughed with him, and brushed off his sensual teasing. “There are so many things about me that you guys don’t know yet.”
He observed her silently for a few moments, all hint of laughter gone from his eyes. “I remember you from when we were kids. I might have been five years older than you, but Stone River is a small place. Everyone knew about your family situation.”
She grimaced and then huffed, “Yep, everyone knew, and yet no one did anything to help me.”
“I wish I could have helped you back then. I remember seeing you walking home one day in the dead of winter without a coat and thinking you were a silly girl. I said something to my mama as we drove home, and she scolded me. She explained to me that not everyone had the same luxuries that I did, and fed me a heaping helping of humble pie.”
Zoey’s throat tightened, “You! You and your mama gave me that green coat didn’t you?”
Clint’s cheeks grew ruddy when he realized that he had given up his secret, and he had trouble meeting her eyes. “We went that night and bought it. Left for school thirty minutes early to make sure it was there for you to find.”
Zoey could remember that moment as if it was yesterday. It was late November and the weather had just turned seriously cold. She had outgrown her previous coat by a couple of years and it was so frayed and tattered it did her no good anyway. Each morning she spent twenty minutes trying to get just the right about of layers in order to avoid freezing to death on the two mile walk to school. One morning, as she walked out the front door with her books in hand, she was stunned to find a winter coat hanging on a tree limb in her front yard. It was hunter green and a small white tag hung from it like a price tag. Instead of an amount, it simply read, “For: Zoey.” Until this moment she had never known where it came from.
Biting back a swell of emotion, she smiled at him, “Thank you.”
He shrugged and winked back. A wealth of unspoken words passed between them, and Zoey barely managed to keep her tears in check. The whole way back to the ranch she held an inner battle with herself over whether or not she had led him on. It wasn’t as if she was super experienced at juggling multiple men, and in this case, she wasn’t even sure if she had two or three on the hook. But the more time she spent with him and his brothers, the more she learned about them, and the deeper her attachment grew to all three of them. How hard was it going to be to give them each equal pieces of herself, without losing her heart?
By the time they arrived back at the barn, it was lunchtime and the temperature had risen dramatically. Clint took her mare from her to unsaddle and she gratefully smiled and headed for the air-conditioned house.
A deep voice stopped her halfway up the porch steps, and she turned to find Tanner coming around the corner of the porch.
“Nice ride?”
“Yes, actually. I haven’t been on a horse for a long time, and it was great to see more of the ranch. You boys are so lucky to have such a beautiful place to call home.”
Tanner nodded, “Did he take you to see the glowing tree?”
“The what?”
“I guess that answers my question. It’s a special place on the ranch, but he might have forgotten about it. It’s been a decade since he was there. If you want I’ll show you sometime.”
Zoey stood there in shock. Was this the same man who left her bedroom pissed off last night? When he frowned at her hesitation, she nodded, “Yes, I would love to see it.”
His wide shoulders seemed to relax and he gave her a half smile. “I better let you get inside to cool off.” His eyes skimmed down her body taking in the sweaty t-shirt that clung to her breasts, and her skin tight jeans. Even from six feet away her skin tingled as if he had touched her.
When she couldn’t make her tongue function to speak, she just turned on her heel and bolted into the house, leaving him standing on the porch. She went about the motions of showering and changing, but no amount of cold water seemed to reduce the burning in her body. Hopefully tonight’s date would culminate in something more touchy feely than the horseback ride had.
Zoey managed to entertain herself for the rest of the day and didn’t see any of the three Keegan brothers until almost dinnertime. She was just about to search the cabinets for dinner supplies when she heard Dalton and Clint on the front porch.
The two brothers came into the living room, and her mouth went dry. They were both shirtless, bareheaded, and carrying their boots in their hands. Their jeans were soaking wet, with muddy hems, and they were laughing like hyenas.
“What on God’s green earth happened to you two?” she asked, planting her fists on her hips as she stared at the mess they were creating on the floor.
Clint snorted and looked to Dalton who just shrugged, “Attacked by the horse trough.”
Zoey nodded, struggling to hold back a laugh. “And I take it the trough won?”
“Something like that,” Dalton answered with a laugh. “We’re going to get cleaned up and then we can start our date, pretty lady.”
She waved him off, “No big deal guys, I can cook—”
“NO!” the two men barked it out in unison, and Zoey took a step backwards.
Clint cleared his throat, “What we mean is, no please don’t cook. We have the whole evening planned already.”
“Oh, okay,” she hesitated, feeling giddy with excitement that they planned something for her, and a little awkward because she really didn’t like to be surprised, “Should I change?”
A quick glance down reminded her that she was wearing a pair of yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt. Her toes were bare, because she had just painted the nails a pretty pale pink color, and she wiggled them a little.
“Only if you want to. We’re not going anywhere fancy this time. We want you to be comfortable,” Dalton said.
She gave him a smile, and he crooked his finger at her. When she shook her head, he huffed, “Zoey, come here. I won’t bite…unless you ask me to.”
A shiver skittered down her spine and directly to her clit and she almost moaned out loud. She wanted to scream “Yes” and jump him right there. He was already half undressed, so it wouldn’t take much to get her hands on the hard cock that pressed against his zipper. Finding her backbone, she walked across the room slowly until she stood just a foot or so away from them.
“And what if I want you to bite, cowboy?” Her nipples were throbbing against her t-shirt and she squeezed her thighs together to ease the pressure on her pu-ssy.
Dalton groaned and grabbed her chin so she was forced to look him in the eye. “I really hope you do, but once I start I won’t be able to stop, so unless you plan on showering with me, you better just stick with a kiss.”
Zoey felt empowered to know that she had such an effect on him, and instead of a chaste kiss on his lips, she planted her hands on his bare chest and nipped his bottom lip. “I’ll skip the shower for now, but later…”
Dalton wasted no time. His fingers tangled into her long black hair, and he held her still so he could ravage her mouth. Seducing and overpowering her with a kiss. When he finally pulled away she was lying limply against his chest, and moisture had seeped through her clothing to her skin.
Clint tugged on her wrist, and Dalton released her reluctantly into his brother’s arms. “Since you’re already wet…”
Zoey moaned loudly just before Clint’s mouth descended on hers. He had to have known how she would take his statement, and she had no doubt the two of them knew what they were doing to her body.
When Clint broke the kiss Zoey’s brain was barely computing, and she remained pressed against his muscular chest, reeling from her own desire. “Damn you boys can kiss,” she muttered, and both men laughed loudly.
Dalton tugged her hair sharply as he walked past her toward the stairs to his room. “We can do more than that, pretty lady, but you have to wait until tonight for more. Come on, Clint.”
Clint gave her a smack on the ass before making sure she was steady on her feet and heading down the hall to the bathroom. She stared after him as her heart settled back into a normal rhythm. If a kiss was so explosive between them, sex was going to be nuclear. Smiling to herself, she went to change clothes for the second time that day.