Her Cowboy Cousins: A Reverse Harem Romance Page 3

  “No, admittedly, I don’t.” I don’t like conflict, but at the same time I’m not going to lie; I truly think Marshall is making a bad decision. “But what’s done is done, so we should shelve this for now. We can’t go kick her out now, anyway. She’s already here, right? We’re stuck with her for at least a little while. I mean, Spencer, you’re not about to go out there and kick a homeless woman and her daughter out, are you?”

  Spencer shrugs. “Nah, ain’t doing that.”

  “Okay, then we’ve got nothing to argue about. She’ll be here for a bit. We can only hope it’s a short while. By the looks of it, she’s not gonna want to stay long. Her daughter seems disgusted with farm life. Let’s just wait this out.”

  “Yeah, well, I think this nice little piece of generosity is gonna come back to bite us in the ass, I really fucking do,” Spencer mutters.

  I can’t deny it; I agree with him. But I don’t say it out loud. I’m not trying to start a whole new fight here. There’s finally a bit of calm in the room, and I intend to hang onto it.

  “Let’s just get back to work,” I say, looking each of them in the eye in turn.

  We do just that. And as I get back to driving these nails in, my mind unexpectedly drifts back to Sarah.

  Maybe it’s not so unexpected, all things considered. She’s a really attractive girl. I’ve always thought so. But I never gave her the time of day because her daddy, Chuck, was a very protective man. From what I’d heard, he didn’t allow his daughter to date much and tried to steer men away from her at every possible opportunity. Can’t blame him. That’s probably what I’d be doing for my daughter if I had one, too.

  Now that Chuck’s gone, it feels like a betrayal to be thinking about his daughter the way I am, knowing he’d disapprove. Hell, maybe he’s watching me from wherever he is in the great beyond, judging me for my thoughts this very moment.

  But I can’t really help it.

  It’s been a long time since I had a woman. I can’t help that I notice when a woman is attractive, and Sarah definitely is. She’s a freckle-faced classic country beauty, my favorite kind. She’s the sort of gorgeous that looks damn good even in a pair of jeans. Hell, she may even look better in jeans. I love me a girl who can get down to work.

  And boy, can she! When she came in today, I was expecting her to grab the opportunity to go back home, not offer to roll up her sleeves and start painting. It’s a far cry from Eva, who probably has never lifted a finger a day in her life.

  I thought she was damn cute putting that paint up. So much that it became a distraction from my own work. It’s kind of a relief to not have those sweet cheeks in here, in fact, because at least now I can focus on my work.

  Except I’m not focusing on my work at all. I’m focusing on her, even when she’s not in the room. And I realize that when my hand slips and I actually bang my thumb with the hammer instead of the nail.

  “Fuck!” I yell out.

  Spencer stares at me. “Well, how the hell did you do that? Aren’t you looking where you’re hammering?”

  No, if I’m honest. My mind had conjured up an image of Sarah’s tight ass in those jeans and that’s what my eyes were seeing instead of the hammer.

  I feel shitty on so many levels for thinking like this about her. She’s such an innocent, and Chuck was a good man who never would have approved of me fantasizing about his daughter. Never mind that she’s now an employee of ours. There are plenty of reasons to nip this little crush in the bud, and I know I’m going to have to do it.

  I clear my head of thoughts of her by sheer force of will. And it mostly works… for a while. Until I smell the scent of fresh food and my stomach begins to grumble a bit.

  “Y’all smell that?” I ask, not being able to place it exactly. I mean, it smells like food of course, but what kind?

  Spencer looks confused. “Yeah… smells like someone’s cooking, doesn’t it? Did we have cooks come in today?”

  “Of course not,” Marshall says. “Why would they be?”

  Spencer shrugs. “You forgot to tell Sarah not to come in.”

  “Sarah’s the only one in the kitchen,” I say. “But she couldn’t be cooking, could she?”

  Neither of them answer me, just stare on curiously before they leave the room and make the short walk to the kitchen. I follow, and when we reach the kitchen, Sarah is huddled over the stove.

  “Are you cooking?” Marshall asks.

  “Oh, yes, I’m sorry. That’s okay, isn’t it? I mean, it’s about lunchtime and I figured y’all needed to eat, so…”

  Spencer grins. “Hell yeah, it’s okay. Smells fucking awesome. Didn’t realize I was starving until now.”

  She smiles. “Well, it’s just about done. Nothing complex, just a simple Alfredo pasta with some broccoli. I’ll serve you guys up.”

  We all take our seats around the kitchen table. Since the cabinets all have clear glass doors you can easily see inside, she doesn’t have to search for plates. She finds everything real easy, and she looks good doing it too. She’s moving around this kitchen as though she’s been doing it her whole life. Again, I had always been attracted to women who look like they know what they’re doing. And those who know their way around a kitchen? Jackpot.

  She brings over steaming plates and then sits down to eat with us.

  The pasta is divine. The Alfredo sauce feels like it’s melting into my mouth as I bite into the fettucine. There aren’t words for food this heavenly. At least, I don’t have them.

  But it’s Spencer who compliments her first, surprisingly.

  “Holy shit, this is damn good,” he says as he begins to scarf his down.

  “Really? You like it?” She flushes a little, eyes sparkling.

  “Oh, yeah, it’s amazing. Man, maybe I should’ve made you a cook,” Marshall laughs.

  She laughs back and I get a twinge of jealousy and the urge to insert myself into the conversation.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever had pasta this good,” I tell her. “You’re amazing.”

  “You’re all so sweet,” she says softly as she delicately takes another bite herself. I watch her mouth move as she chews and then taps her pink lips with a napkin.

  “So, how’s your mama doing?” Spencer asks her after he swallows.

  “Oh, you know… she’s hanging in there. We both are.” She forces a smile, but it doesn’t feel genuine.

  “Well, if you ever need anything, you just let us know. We’re pretty handy you know. We’re happy to help around the house whenever needed,” Marshall tells her.

  Marshall only met her last week, but we were sure to brief him on her history. In a small town like Autumn Falls, it can’t be helped. Everyone knows everyone’s story. Most of the town even attended Chuck’s funeral. You just can’t help but get to know everyone in a place like this because you’re constantly running into each other at the store or the post office or when dropping kids off at school. And people are real friendly around here. It’s just our way.

  “Yeah, absolutely! Anything you need!” I agree, though it’s totally unnecessary for me to speak up.

  And yet I feel like I have to. I dunno, it’s like I’m vying for her attention. It kind of feels like my cousins are fighting me for it… like they’re just as interested in her as I am.

  I really hope not. If they both are attracted to her, nothing good is going to come from me continuing to push for her affection. Especially when I’m not even planning to stay on the ranch all that long. I want to save up some money, maybe for college, and get out of this place. And it makes no sense to have family drama cropping up before that can happen.

  But despite the logic of it, I still feel myself getting drawn to her. There’s something special about her… something I can’t help but be attracted to. I watch her smile and push a strand of that honey hair out of her face.

  I want her.

  Bad.

  Sarah

  Lunch doesn’t exactly go as I hoped it would.

/>   While the guys were all working with their shirts off, I cut myself some slack for being flustered. They’re really hot, and I’ve never been that close to men who look like that while simultaneously being half-naked. As far as men go, I’m pretty sheltered. But I fully expected that tension would go away once they were no longer practically working out in front of me.

  It doesn’t, though. If anything, lunch only seems to increase my attraction to them. And not just one of them, but all three of them!

  I like Marshall because he feels like the wisest of them all, the smartest. And he doesn’t have a lick of country in his voice. He sounds straight city, which is really uncommon here. Kinda exotic.

  And then there’s Morgan, of course, who’s really sweet. He’s got this warmth about him. His smile is comforting, somehow. You can’t help but feel at ease around him. He’s really adorable.

  Spencer is the exact opposite. I don’t feel even slightly at ease around him. I always think back to what my mom told me… about how he’s a party animal, a player, a wild child. It’s kind of naughty for me to be into such a person, which of course only makes me more into him.

  Really, it’s taboo for me to be into any of them! They’re all my bosses, and they’re all way older than me. If I had any sense, I would shut down these flickers of attraction before they get a chance to turn into anything more serious.

  So when Marshall tells me to go home for the day and to come back Friday to train, I’m grateful. It gives me some time to try and get ahold of my racing thoughts.

  And I really do have the intention of doing that, of ending the attraction cold in its tracks. I don’t want to intensify them in any way.

  Until, of course, I’m lying in my bed alone replaying the day in my mind.

  I tell myself not to do it. It isn’t going to help; it’ll only make things worse. I know I need to stop. But the images of Spencer, Marshall, and Morgan half-naked and sweating are burned into my mind. They make my breath quicken and my heart beat a bit faster.

  I begin to wonder what they would look like if they weren’t just shirtless but completely naked.

  As I do, my hand drifts downward.

  It’s so wrong. I am trying to lose my attraction to these men. The last thing I should be doing is touching myself while I think about them. But I can’t control it because as soon as my finger rolls around my clit, my desire is too intense to be able to control myself.

  I imagine all three of them in my bedroom. Naked, sweaty, and eyeing me with desire in their eyes. I picture their own hands drifting down to their belt buckles and undoing them, their heavy belts clanking to the floor. Except Spencer’s. He holds his in one hand while he touches himself with the other. All their eyes are on me with desire as I imagine their ripped abs to their Adonis belts, down to huge cocks, rigid and pointed in my direction, ready to deflower me. Yeah, I don’t have a lot of experience in the bedroom, and by not a lot, I mean… any. I am a virgin. I haven’t done much more than kiss a guy.

  But that doesn’t mean I’m not filled with desire. In fact, my virginity might mean I’m hornier than most. It takes so little to excite me, it takes so little to come...

  But before I can, guilt overtakes me. I shouldn’t be thinking about them this way. They’re my bosses. They’re almost a decade older than me. They have no interest in a kid like me and they never will.

  I jerk my hand back up and take a deep breath. This is so stupid. If I orgasm to the thought of them right now, I will be red as a beet the next time I walk through the door. I am no good at hiding my feelings, and even worse at keeping secrets. So I need to find something else to do.

  A cold shower will make me feel better, won’t it? It’s something I’ve heard people do. I’ve never tried it, but there’s a first time for everything. I pull myself out of bed and march to the bathroom and rip off my clothes before stepping into the decidedly not-steaming tub.

  Surprisingly, it does actually work. It’s horribly uncomfortable, and all I can think while I’m in the shower is how badly I want to get out, but I can say it makes me forget about the guys for a few minutes.

  When I get out, my skin is red with irritation. I dry off and head to the kitchen to get something to eat—leftovers in the fridge from a dinner I made earlier for me and my mom.

  I always cook for us, every single night. She works a night shift at the local bar, so I make dinner and then pack it up for her to take to work. She’s told me in the past it’s not necessary, that I don’t have to go to the trouble, but I insist she deserves a home-cooked meal before work.

  It’s something I did even when Chuck was alive, but now that he’s gone, I feel an even stronger urge to take care of my mom and make sure she’s fed. When I walk into the kitchen, I find the foil-wrapped dinner I made for her still sitting on the table even though she left for work an hour ago.

  I sigh. I’m not going to let her go hungry at work. I grab my food from the fridge to warm it up before I get ready to take her dinner to her.

  I don’t even mind. I can use the drive and the cool night air to clear my head.

  Spencer

  After we all clink glasses, I take a sip of my beer. It’s still frothy at the top, just how I like it. A good bit of head adds flavor to the brew.

  It’s been a damn hard day, which you’d think was because we were doing construction, but that was not the worst thing for me. I hate fighting with my cousins. Especially about something as foolhardy as Marshall letting his bitch of an ex live on our ranch.

  I hate that woman. She’s the kind of girl you don’t get mixed up with, and I’ve known that shit since Marshall dated her in high school. She was a mistake from the get-go, but he was head-over-heels in love with the girl.

  And what did she do? She crushed him. She ran off with some other dude who she thought would worship her better than Marshall could or some shit like that, and she left him out in the cold. He was heartbroken for a long time.

  He acts like he doesn’t care now, and, hell, maybe he doesn’t. I can’t say. But I hold a grudge, and I’m not forgetting this, not for anything.

  I take another sip of my beer after realizing I’m getting worked up all over again. These days, I try to put more of an effort to control the rage that used to run rampant when I was younger. I’m not letting myself get heated in this bar when I’m supposed to be chilling out with my cousins.

  I’m in the middle of another sip when Sarah’s mom Miranda struts up to us.

  Shit, I forgot she works in this bar. And the way her face looks, she’s got nothing good on her mind.

  What the hell could she be pissed about? I would have thought she’d be pretty happy we gave her daughter a job as our receptionist, especially considering it’s pretty well paid. How ungrateful would that be?

  She steps up with a surly look on her face.

  “Hey, boys,” she says. The words are friendly, but the tone? Not so much.

  “Hi, Miranda.” Morgan smiles at her as if he’s oblivious to her annoyance. And maybe he is. It’s hard to tell with him sometimes… whether he’s really misreading people or he’s just that dedicated to being smooth. I figure it’s the latter.

  “Look, I know you hired Sarah,” she starts. “And I hope it’s not for the reasons I think it is.”

  Marshall raises his eyebrows. “What? What are you talking about, Miranda? I’m the one who hired her, and I did it because she looks like a good fit for the job.”

  “Really? Has nothing to do with her being young, pretty, and a little naïve?” she asks suspiciously.

  Marshall scoffs. “Miranda, are you kidding? Look, I’m not a horny teenager over here. I hire people on merit, plain and simple. I needed someone who could handle herself with customers. There’s nothing else to it.”

  She nods slowly. “Yeah, might be true for you, Marshall. You never were a wild one. But that one over there”—she points directly at me—“is the one I’m really worried about.”

  I feign confusion, thoug
h I know exactly what she’s talking about. My fucking past. “What? Why me?”

  “Because you have played damn near every woman in this town, boy. There’s not a girl around here who doesn’t have something negative to say about you.”

  She’s exaggerating a little bit, but not by much. And I can admit that. I’m not proud of it, but I do have a past. I’ve slept with a lot of women. I’ve left a lot of them heartbroken. I partied a lot when I was young, and all that drinking led to some dumb decisions.

  I got a reputation, like you always do in small towns like Autumn Falls.

  But that was many years ago. I’ve grown up since then. I’m an adult. I don’t spend my nights chasing tail. I’m either drinking with my cousins, a lot more responsibly than I used to, or I’m working at the dude ranch.

  Before I can answer Miranda, Jake pipes up from across the bar.

  “Yeah, but I bet them girls also have a lot of positive things to say, eh, Spencer?” He laughs. “What I wouldn’t do to trade lives with you. How many women you banged this week?”

  I’m about to tell him none and to fuck off with that shit because it’s not who I am anymore, but the bar goes silent and I realize Marshall and Morgan are looking over my shoulder at the front door.

  Sarah’s there, eyes searching everywhere as she walks toward the bar.

  I look back over at Miranda, who’s wide-eyed and clearly disturbed that Sarah is there in the bar at all.

  “What are you doing?” Miranda mutters under her breath as Sarah walks forward.

  “You forgot your dinner at home. I’m not about to let my own mama go hungry.”

  “Okay, okay, fine, thank you.” Miranda takes the plate quickly from her. “But I can always eat here, you know. Employee discount. Sarah, run on home now, shoo. This is no place for a girl like you.”

  Sarah rolls her eyes. It’s a little ridiculous for Miranda to say. She’s acting like her sixteen-year-old daughter just walked in, when really Sarah is twenty-one. It’s perfectly reasonable for a twenty-one-year-old woman to head out to a bar to have a few drinks. And as far as bars go, this really isn’t a sleazy one. It’s one of the nicer places in town.