Shared By the Cowboys by Cassie Cole

15

Rebecca

I thought about what they had told me while collecting eggs and milking the animals. How could I not think about it?

I couldn’t believe three guys would be willing to share a wife like that. Men, in my experience, were usually possessive. Brothers especially didn’t play well together. I had three cousins who were all boys, two or three years apart, and they fought over everything growing up. Toys, what cartoon to watch, what games to play…

For the Cassidy brothers to share a woman? It was insane!

Wasn’t it?

Then, once I had wrapped my head around that, I began considering the next bomb they had dropped on me at breakfast. The offer to share me.

Being with Mason was easy to imagine. We’d already had sex. I couldn’t wait to do it again.

Yet the others…

Blake had an attitude about everything. He was sexy in a brooding kind of way, but based on what his brothers had said, he was off the table. He still wasn’t over Penny.

Then there was Cody. The gorgeous, friendly blond who looked like the cowboy version of Owen Wilson. I definitely liked him. I’d liked him since the moment I met him. He was the kind of guy everyone liked. I could picture myself dating him.

But the thought of being with him right after being with Mason, and dating them at the same time…

It felt like I was doing something wrong.

How can it be wrong? I thought while carrying a jug of fresh cow’s milk inside. They’re the ones who offered it to me!

Yet the more I considered their proposal, the more interested I became. A tingle of excitement filled my body as I went about my chores.

The only problem was that I was leaving in three months.

*

Four more truckloads of cattle were delivered before lunch. Mason and Cody checked their tags, then mounted up and herded them out onto the property. Integrating them with the rest of the cattle. That should be easy since they were all being purchased from the same ranch, but they still needed to be herded all the way out there.

While painting the barn, I watched them work. Mason and Cody circled the cluster of cattle on their horses, shouting commands and guiding them deeper onto the property. It was like watching two dancers performing flawless choreography.

There was a cowboy named Landon who worked on my family ranch growing up. He was married, and twice my age, but I had a huge crush on him. Mason reminded me of him. Rugged, competent, and dripping with sex appeal.

There was nothing more attractive than a man in a cowboy hat, tending to a herd of cattle. That’s for sure. Much sexier than the city boys who sat at a desk and grew soft.

Like the last two guys I dated, I thought while Cody and Mason disappeared over the horizon.

When I was done painting the barn, I went inside to get lunch. Mason returned while I was slathering peanut butter onto a slice of bread. His face was sweaty and covered with a little bit of grime, but it only accentuated his sexy, rugged appeal.

“Cattle getting along?” I asked.

“Better than we could’ve hoped. Like they were never apart. Chores coming along?”

“So far. Only thing I’m not sure about is the next item on my list: making goat cheese. I found a YouTube video that explains it, but I’ve never actually done it. The first batch might not be great.”

Mason glanced at the clock and said, “I’ve got some time. Let me show you. It’s easy once you learn.”

He pulled out the two jugs of goat milk and poured them into a stainless steel pot. “Always use this pot. Any other metal pot will mess with the taste of the cheese.” He opened a drawer and held up a cooking thermometer. “Heat the milk to a hundred and eighty degrees, stirring constantly.”

“Got it,” I said while stirring the milk with a wooden spoon.

He came up behind me and reached around to dip the thermometer into the liquid. It was still only warm. “Stir a little faster. Like this.” He took my hand and moved it in a circle.

I could feel Mason’s body pressing against mine, and he had a leathery, earthen scent from riding. He smelled good.

“This was why you wanted to show me, wasn’t it?” I asked.

He leaned forward until his cheek was next to mine. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I giggled as he held me. I stirred the liquid steadily, and when the temperature hit one-eighty we removed the pot from the heat.

“Now we add the lemon juice, like this. Keep stirring. Good. Then, after another minute, we add the vinegar. Keep stirring for another minute, and then we let it rest for twenty minutes so it can curdle.”

“What ever can we do in twenty minutes?” I asked innocently.

Mason gave me a sweaty kiss, then walked away. “We can eat lunch. I’m starving.”

He made himself a sandwich, and then I retrieved the one I had made and we went out on the front porch to eat. The sun was shining and there was a cool breeze blowing down out of the mountains. It was easy to get used to it, but with mountains on either side of us and the valley in between, the view was absolutely breathtaking.

“Wasn’t trying to scare you off this morning,” Mason said.

“I’m still here, aren’t I?” I replied.

He looked sideways at me. “You’re not going to drive off in the middle of the night and never return?”

“It remains to be seen.” I laughed to let him know I was joking, then said, “I’ll be honest: I was surprised by what you told me. I’d never heard of anyone doing that before. Sharing a woman. But I’m considering your offer. I just need time to think it over.”

He nodded and chewed on his sandwich. “Glad to hear it. And I’m glad it’s not making you run for the hills. We wanted to be totally honest with you.”

“I appreciate it,” I said, though his honestly made me feel guilty about my own secret. “Hey, Mason?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I tell you something?”

He stopped rocking in his chair and turned to look at me. “You can tell me anything, Rebecca.”

The words were so close to leaving my mouth. It would be easy to come clean, to tell him the real reason I was on his ranch for the next three months.

“I’m sorry about your wife,” I said. “I can’t imagine losing a spouse like that.”

He nodded sadly. “Not gonna lie: it’s still hard sometimes. Whenever I see a woman get up on a horse I think about how Penny died… Now that I think about it, that’s probably why I was so upset about you trying to ride Wildfire. I’m afraid of you getting hurt.”

“I don’t blame you.” I plopped the rest of my sandwich in my mouth and said, “I can ride him, though. I want another chance.”

He squinted skeptically at me and said, “Milk should be curdled by now.”

We went back inside and checked the pot. Mason said it was ready for the next step, which involved lining a colander with cheesecloth and pouring the curdled milk inside. That separated the curds from the whey and water. The curds were white and lumpy, like cottage cheese.

“Now we add some salt, which acts as a preservative. I just kind of eyeball the amount.” He poured salt into the white curds and then mixed it together with his bare hands. Then he grabbed my hands and shoved them in the curds. I laughed as I squeezed my fingers into the gooey, creamy mixture.

“It’s a good thing I just washed my hands!”

“I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”

When the salt was mixed in, Mason folded the ends of the cheesecloth up into a bag shape and tied the end with a string, then began squeezing the liquid out with both hands. Then he hung the bag from a hook over the sink.

“Let it drain over the sink to get the last whey and liquid out. In an hour it’ll be ready to mold into a shape. We usually just roll it into a log and refrigerate.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

“That’s it. Pretty simple.” Mason wiped his hands on a towel. “I’m not too fond of goat cheese, but it’s easy to make. And we want the ranch to be as self-sustaining as possible.”

“Thanks for showing me how to do it.” I kissed him on the cheek.

He put down the towel and took me in his arms. “Is that all I get? A peck on the cheek?”

“Depends on how much more you want,” I said.

Mason kissed me slowly, his mouth warm and salty with sweat. I ran a hand along his neck, feeling the dirt on his skin. I didn’t mind that he was a little grimy. If anything, it made him even sexier.

“Are you busy right now?” I asked in a soft voice.

“I am,” he said in his perfect Montana drawl, “but I could be convinced to take a break.”

We grinned at each other.

Before we could do more, the front door opened and boots echoed through the house. Moments later Cody appeared in the kitchen doorway.

“Need some help up on the roof. I’m fixin’ the last leaks, and some of these are a two-man job.”

He paused and seemed to realize that we had been doing something before he had arrived.

“Uh, unless I’m interrupting something…”

“Not at all. I was just showing Rebecca how to make cheese.” Mason’s hand lingered on my back a moment longer, then he followed his brother. “Need to get the roof patched before the solar panels get installed.”

“That’s what I was thinkin’.”

Mason looked over his shoulder at me, gave me a smile, then disappeared.