Shared By the Cowboys by Cassie Cole

18

Mason

“I kissed her.”

Cody and I were circling the cattle at an easy trot. The new cattle that had been delivered were integrating with the rest of the herd nicely. That was always a concern, even with cattle bought from the same ranch. Sometimes an outsider would be shunned from the group. Even without predators, that was bad for the animal. They were social creatures, and needed attention.

Just like people.

“Yeah?” I said. “When’d this happen?”

Cody grinned across his horse at me. “Right after she put the bridle in Wildfire’s mouth.”

“You’re joking.”

“Nope. She was tellin’ the truth the other day. She got the halter and bridle on the horse without a fuss. Saw it with my own two eyes.”

“And you were so grateful that you kissed her?”

Cody let out a rich, happy laugh. The kind of laugh I hadn’t heard him make in two years. “What can I say? It was a romantic moment. And she’s got those puckered lips, they were just beggin’ to be kissed. You weren’t lyin’, either. She tastes like heaven. Until Wildfire knocked me away like a jealous boyfriend.”

I smiled at the mental image. Unlike Wildfire, hearing about my brother kissing Rebecca didn’t make me jealous. There had been some jealousy with Penny, at first. When we all started seeing her at the same time. It was a tough thing to get used to, sharing a woman.

But now? It felt natural. We wanted a woman to be ours, together. And if Cody and Rebecca were hitting it off, then we were making progress towards that goal.

Now if only Blake would get on board…

“Have y’all slept together since the barn?”

“Not yet. We keep getting interrupted.” I smirked over at him.

“Aw, shit. That’s my fault, isn’t it? Sorry about the other day, with the roof repairs.”

“Yours is forgivable, because it wasn’t intentional. But Blake… He heard me in her room last night. So he quickly came over and asked to talk to me about the fence. He had some good ideas, especially about the part of the property where the terrain is uneven. But I’m certain he was trying to interrupt us.”

Cody shifted in his saddle. “Saw a movie like that once. Bunch of grumpy teenagers tried to keep their parents from dating.”

“Blake was a grumpy teenager, and he never grew out of it.”

“What if he never gets on board?” Cody asked. There was a puzzled look on his face. “Can we make it work? Just the two of us sharing her?”

“Don’t see why not. It would probably drive Blake away, though.”

“Yeah, I reckon it would.”

I didn’t know how I felt about that. The point of buying this ranch was to make Penny’s dream a reality… But it was also to try to replicate what we had with her. We came here to find someone that all three of us could fall in love with.

If Blake wasn’t on board, then who would I chose: him, or Rebecca?

I didn’t want to think about that, so I said, “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. You heard what Rebecca said. She might not stay once the three-month contract is up. She said she has plans for the winter.”

“She said so, but it sounded like an excuse to me. I don’t think she has plans at all,” Cody said.

“We’ll see.”

Dinner that night was more congenial than it had been. Blake ate with us and didn’t complain at all. Rebecca had a couple of beers and told stories about the ranch she grew up on. One story about a shepherd dog who was scared of cows had us in stitches.

And Rebecca smiled lustily at me from across the table, twisting my stomach into knots.

I was excited about that night. Rebecca went upstairs early, and I tidied up around the house with Cody. When I went upstairs, her light was still on.

But when I poked my head in, she was fast asleep in bed with the laptop open on her lap. I wondered what she had been doing before bed. Trying to stream something on Netflix or whatever, probably. Her chest rose and fell with steady breathing, and she wheezed softly.

I slowly walked over to the bed and picked up the laptop. I wasn’t trying to snoop, but I couldn’t help but glance at the screen.

An agricultural website was open, detailing the harvest guidelines for field peas and lentils. She was doing research to help with the ranch. No wonder she had fallen asleep.

I put the laptop on the dresser, then glanced back at Rebecca. I was tempted to tuck her in and kiss her goodnight. Maybe she would stir awake. Then I could slide under the covers, and the two of us could have that date we talked about.

But I knew that would be selfish. It would be better to let her sleep, even if it meant delaying our fun.

“Goodnight, Rebecca,” I whispered.

I turned the light off and gently closed the door.