Ride Me, Cowboys_A Reverse Harem Forbidden Romance Page 8

  “Just be careful,” she said, stretching out on the bed. “And take off my shoes, would you, son?”

  After pulling off her shoes and setting them under the edge of the bed, I stepped back. In truth, I wanted to get out of there before she could tell me anything else she suspected was going on in this house. But I knew that finding out the extent of it was more important than being comfortable.

  “Anything else?” I asked.

  “Sit down a minute,” she said, patting the bed beside her.

  I hesitated before obeying. But I couldn’t say no to my mother, even now. I sat.

  “I mean it,” she said. “Be careful. Amber’s a big city girl. You don’t know her ways, what she was used to back there in New York.”

  “Don’t you think I’ve talked to her, Ma? She lives here.”

  “There are things you don’t find out from a direct question. There are things she probably doesn’t even know about herself, so she couldn’t answer even if you could ask. Things you only learn as you get to know a person.”

  I nodded, think of Maria. How we’d all thought she hung the moon, and how she’d used that to her advantage. “I know,” I said.

  “I know you do,” Mama said, reaching up to stroke my cheek. “And that’s why I’m telling you to be careful. You’re a generous boy, Holden. Don’t give all of yourself away for nothing in return.”

  “Thanks, Mama,” I said, bending to kiss her cheek.

  “I’m not saying it’s right, what y’all are getting into,” she said. “When Mrs. Grimes told me, I thought she was trying to spread rumors to get back at y’all for letting her go. But when I see you together…A mother knows these things, Holden.”

  Damn if that old bird hadn’t talked in town the way she’d promised not to. We should have known. I was quaking in my boots, but I tried to keep a poker face like Waylon would have. “Knows what?” I asked.

  Mama laughed and patted my cheek. “Don’t worry, I reminded that heifer that I have a lot of influence in this town, and that if she wanted to stay in this county, she’d best shut her trap and never say another word about my sons. Believe it or not, some people find me intimidating.”

  “Ah, Mama, that’s not fair,” I said, taking her hand. “You’re the kindest person I know.”

  “I knew you were my favorite,” she said with a wink. “But I never did like those Grimeses. Too righteous for their own good. That woman may not think a bunch of rough ranchers can touch her, but she knows what a well-respected member of the church like me can do.”

  “You didn’t have to do that, Ma.”

  “Sure I did,” she said. “You’re my sons. And I’ll keep my mouth shut and look the other way if that’s what makes you happy. That’s always what a mother wants for her children, even if she doesn’t agree with it. For them to be happy. I suppose the rest of it is none of my business.”

  “Love you, Ma.” I switched off the lamp on my way out and headed back downstairs, my pulse racing.

  My brothers were sitting around the fire with Amber. Waylon’s eyes locked onto me the minute I stepped in the room. I dropped into one of the chairs and put my feet up, ignoring his scrutiny.

  “She all right?” he asked.

  “Yup.”

  “And you?”

  I sat forward and took off my hat, pushing it onto one knee. “I think she knows,” I said. “About all of us.”

  “I think so, too,” Amber said, cradling her wine glass in one hand and lying back on the sofa.

  Waylon glared at her. “Then why are you smiling?”

  “Because I don’t think she cares.”

  19

  Amber

  I quickly filled the boys in on what their mother had said, and Holden told us his side.

  “Damn,” Sawyer said. “I don’t give her enough credit sometimes.”

  “She’s actually quite openminded,” I said, which was something I never thought I’d say about anyone’s mother. But despite her proper exterior, I now suspected the Westling boys had gotten some of their unconventional ideas from her.

  Holden was smiling bigger than I’d ever seen him do. “This is great,” he said, moving to sit beside me on the couch and pulling me into his arms. “We’re rid of the Grimeses for good, and you even won over our mother. Not that we need to tell her the nitty-gritty, but at least we don’t have to keep secrets from her.”

  “This is cause for celebration,” Sawyer said, standing and heading for the kitchen.

  “Are you going to run around in just your apron again?” I teased.

  “He did that?” Waylon asked. The intensity of his gaze had my thighs clenching. God, I couldn’t wait to be properly fucked by that man.

  “That’s two causes of celebration in one day,” Sawyer said, rejoining us with a fresh bottle of whiskey and the usual whiskey glasses. He winked at me. “Too bad our mother is upstairs or we might have to break open more than this bottle of whiskey.”

  “I can’t believe she’s okay with it,” I marveled. “Maybe I’ll tell my mom and see what she says. Hmm, nope, never mind. Never gonna happen.”

  Sawyer grinned and handed me a glass. “Here’s to getting our mama drunk and earning her blessing.”

  I grinned right back and clinked my glass against his. “Cheers to that.”

  20

  Amber

  That night, I wanted to curl up in Holden’s bed again, or maybe jump in Sawyer’s this time. I was giddy with excitement and happiness. After all our uncertainties and people trying to come between us, it looked like we’d finally gotten past it. And playing around with Sawyer in his bed seemed the perfect way to express my happiness.

  Unfortunately, their mother was staying over. And even though she was probably passed out cold, we didn’t want to risk it. She might be okay with it in theory, but she’d just come around. She probably didn’t want to hear it in the next room.

  So we were good little stepsiblings and went off to bed alone. I lay in bed, thinking about them lying in their beds. I could tiptoe down the hall and crawl into any of their beds, and yet, I wasn’t allowed to. Not tonight.

  But I was getting really tired of waiting. I knew the time had come to make a choice, to decide whether this would be a permanent thing. If it wasn’t, I knew that Sawyer would still be happy to take my V-card, even knowing I was leaving. Sleeping with Holden before I left would be a bad idea. I wasn’t sure about Waylon, but I figured I’d rather be on the safe side.

  I could lose my virginity to a hot cowboy and go back home older and wiser than I’d left. I’d never let another asshat like Charlie tell me who I could or couldn’t sleep with. If I ran into him in our social circle, I’d smile and walk away, knowing it was thanks to him that I’d had these three months. And I’d have my friends back, though the only one I could really trust was Haley.

  Or I could stay. I’d never have to run into Cheating Charlie again—or at least not often. Maybe not for years. No more stuffy dinners and obligatory photo shoots with my mother or father. No more fake-ass bitches pretending to be my friend because their parents wanted to get in good with my parents. No more dragging my ass home at six in the morning after a night of getting wasted and humiliating myself by trying to entice Charlie into wanting more than a kiss.

  But there was one thing I couldn’t leave behind. My best friend.

  And even if I left it behind, could I really make it in the Wyoming wilderness? I had almost died of hypothermia from falling in a freaking cow trough. I had gotten stuck in a hay loft, where I could have frozen to death if Sawyer hadn’t found me. I had tried to masturbate while riding a horse and fallen off. I could have been trampled to death. The women I’d seen around here were big-boned farm girls, or they worked in diners. Or they’d gotten giant divorce settlements and didn’t have to work another day in their lives, like Lidia.

  I tossed and turned all night, going back and forth on what I wanted. I didn’t want to be a burden to the guys, I knew that much. I couldn�
��t burden them with a babysitting job. They already had their hands full with the ranch. My mishaps may have been amusing, but they were also a hassle to my stepbrothers.

  Finally, I fell asleep without coming to any decisions. Just hours later, I heard the guys get up at four o’clock in the morning to go do their chores, check to make sure none of the cows had frozen to death, been eaten by coyotes, or broken down the fence and made a run for the Mexico border. There was no way I was ever going to do that. I could barely get up by nine, and I wanted no part of the negative temperatures and deadly winds outside.

  My mother had always let me know that I was inadequate, that I wasn’t turning out to be the kind of daughter she’d expected. I wasn’t a carbon copy of Chelsea Clinton or even Jenna Bush. Then I’d caught Charlie cheating, and I’d felt even more inadequate. I wasn’t enough for him. He would rather hook up with random redheads than his own girlfriend. Now I felt the same way all over again. I wasn’t cut out to be a rancher any more than I was cut out to be a politician’s daughter.

  After a few more hours of sleep, I was dragged from my turmoil by the ringing of my phone. I pawed it off the nightstand and answered groggily.

  “Amber,” Mom said. “I’m glad I caught you.”

  I sat up, rubbing my eyes. Mom didn’t sound especially glad she caught me, but then, she rarely sounded super excited about anything unless she’d just dug up some potentially incriminating dirt on a political rival.

  “What’s up?” I asked, flopping back on my pillow. I stretched my legs as far as I could in both directions, but I couldn’t reach the edge of the bed. I remembered then that Waylon gave up this room for me. It was the perfect room for all four of us, with this huge bed.

  “That’s exactly what I was hoping you could tell me,” Mom said in a clipped tone.

  My heart lurched against my sternum. “What do you mean?”

  “You know what I mean,” she said, her voice dropping. “I want you out of there immediately, before the media gets wind of it.”

  “Of what?” I asked, my voice smaller than I’d like.

  “Did you think we wouldn’t find out about this?” Mom hissed. “I’m your mother. My husband is their father. You can’t be stupid enough to think no one would find out.”

  Shit. I sat bolt upright, clutching the blankets. She knew. There was nothing else she could’ve been talking about. Still, I had to hear her say it.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mom.”

  “Don’t play dumb,” she said fiercely. “I’m talking about a phone call I got this morning telling me exactly what you’ve been doing up there in Wyoming with your stepbrothers. Don’t you ever use your head, Amber? This is worse than an arrest. If this ever gets out, it will ruin your life, not to mention my career. I haven’t worked for thirty years to make it this far, only to have my daughter sabotage it by acting like a common prostitute.”

  “Who told you?” I asked, my mouth suddenly drier than a desert.

  “Oh, Christ, does that mean someone else knows?” she asked. “Do you just go parading around town, advertising it?”

  Was it Lidia? Did she come to a different conclusion in the harsh daylight, one that wasn’t so forgiving of our unconventional choices? She’d threatened to send me home or make me go live with her when I first arrived.

  But my instinct told me that it wasn’t her. Mrs. Grimes had also threatened to tell both my mother and Lidia. And Grimes would have the phone number for Senator Westling, since they used to work for him before the guys took over the ranch.

  The guys. I needed to tell them.

  I jumped out of bed and reached for yesterday’s clothes.

  “I haven’t done anything wrong,” I said. Of course that was a lie. I’d done lots wrong. But loving my stepbrothers…that wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t a mistake. It was the most right thing I’d ever done in my life.

  “I sent you out there to learn a lesson about being responsible and making good choices,” my mother said. “And this is how you show me you’re capable of good judgment? Amber, this is unacceptable. I wish I could say I didn’t believe it, but after everything you’ve done to get attention, what choice do I have? I’ve never been so ashamed of you in my life.”

  Hurt washed over me at her words, and tears stung my eyes. I had wanted to make her proud. That was part of why I’d come out here. I really had gone with good intentions.

  But like the saying went, the road to hell was paved with those.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, yanking on some wool socks. “But this isn’t about you anymore.”

  “Whether or not you like it, your choices affect other people,” she said. “You don’t live in a bubble. Your decisions reflect on me and this whole family.”

  I ran down the balcony between our rooms and the lower level, then down the stairs. Stopping to grab my coat, I shoved my arms in the sleeves. “Mom, I have to go.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” she said. “Except to the airport.”

  My chest tightened. I couldn’t leave now. I still had time. Time to spend with the guys, time to decide.

  Except my time was up.

  “This is not optional, Amber. It’s serious, and you are out of second chances,” Mom said. “You can have their mother give you a ride to the airport. I’ve already booked you a flight home tonight.”

  21

  Sawyer

  The minute I saw Amber tearing across the field on Van Gogh, I knew there was trouble. She’d never come out to the fields before, not while we were working. I straightened up and sheltered my eyes with my hat, watching her come.

  Damn, I wouldn’t mind watching her come again. Every time I saw her, I got hornier than the last time. And I knew her days here were numbered. The thought made me feel funny inside. I didn’t just want to fuck Amber for a few more weeks. I wanted to fuck her forever. And I wanted more than just to fuck her. I wanted to make her come and then make her breakfast.

  But from the look on her face as she drew up, I knew I wasn’t going to be doing either today. Her eyes were wide, her hood fallen off and her hair all wild, her cheeks red from the wind. Fuck, she looked good enough to eat.

  “What is it, Princess?” Waylon asked. “Something happen up at the lodge?”

  My mind sorted through the possibilities in a flash. A fire? No, we would have smelled the smoke by the time she got a horse saddled up and rode out. Ma? No, she wouldn’t have been so upset about that, not after last night. Grimes?

  Fuck, had he come back and attacked her while we were out in the field and couldn’t help her? Rage swelled inside my chest, puffing me up like a rooster. I was ready to murder whoever had her looking like that.

  “It’s my Mom,” she said.

  “Is she okay?” Holden asked, frowning down from the trailer at Amber.

  I put a hand on Van Gogh’s back to steady the horse, who was dancing a little, probably sensing Amber’s distress.

  “No,” Amber said. “She knows. Someone called and told her, and she wants me to come back.”

  “So it’s decided for you,” Waylon said, turning away from her. “You never promised us different.”

  “No, she wants me to come back now,” Amber said, her eyes swimming with tears. “I’m leaving tonight.”

  That funny feeling inside me ratcheted up a notch. Oh, who am I kidding? It went haywire. It hadn’t been the full three months, not nearly enough time to get to know this woman I wanted so much. I knew I wanted her, sure, but I wanted to know her, too. I wanted to know what made her tick, what made her kick and scream and throw a fit. And yeah, I was halfway tempted to lay her down and have my way with her right there, before she could leave us with nothing more than the memory of a promise.

  But I couldn’t do that. She had to go, and we had to accept that. Like Waylon said, she hadn’t promised us she’d stay forever. And hell, maybe this meant there was hope for us somewhere out there. Hope that one day, we’d find another woman who would be cool
with our setup. If there was one woman out there who was, there must be more.

  Trouble was, I didn’t want another woman. I wanted Amber.

  Holden must have agreed, because he hopped down off the trailer and came over to join us. “Am,” he said, looking up at her with that stricken look in his eyes. I knew it was too late for him. He was already in way too deep. “Can’t you stay until Christmas?”

  Amber shook her head, biting her bare lip. “She got me a ticket home today.”

  “Fuck,” Holden said, taking off his hat and rubbing his hair. He had the permanent hat-line of a rancher around his head like all of us. “There’s no way you can change her mind? What if one of us talked to her?”

  “If anything, that would make it worse,” Amber said, her lip trembling. I thought she was going to cry, and damn if I didn’t want to punch that mama of hers, woman or not. Anyone who made our Amber cry deserved it.

  “You could still stay on,” Holden said, reaching up to take her hand. “We’ll take care of you.”

  She shook her head, a tear rolling down her cheek. It was killing me to see her so torn up, and my brother even more so. I hated seeing him begging that way, but I didn’t blame him one bit.

  “It’s for the best,” Waylon said, not turning away from the hay bale he was untying from the trailer. “If things had gone further, it would be even harder.”

  Amber’s eyes narrowed as she watched him. She swiped angrily at her cheek, and her face went a deeper red than what the wind had caused. Waylon went on working while I tried to figure what I was missing. Something had gone on between them that I didn’t know about.

  After a minute, Amber spoke up. “It was you?” she said, her eyes narrowed to slits. But she sounded like she wasn’t ready to believe it. Like she couldn’t.

  Waylon didn’t say anything, just kept right on working.

  “You told her,” Amber said, her voice louder this time, and angrier, too. She wasn’t asking this time, she was accusing. “It wasn’t Lidia or the Grimeses, it was you.”

  “Now hold up,” Holden said. “I don’t think we should be jumping to conclusions or accusing anyone of something like that.”