Hard Ridin' (5 page)

She stopped the four-wheeler and pulled off her helmet. For long minutes, she let her pent-up emotion flow down her face. The wind blew the droplets into long streams that wet her hair.

Looking deep into her heart, she tried to make a decision. She needed both men in her life, if only to help her through this tough first year of farming.

She ran her tongue over her lips, tasting the salt of her tears. What could be hard about juggling two men? Other women did it every day of the week, hopping out of one guy’s car and into another’s. In this case, she’d be bouncing between pickup trucks.

And beds?

A shiver of longing broke over her, and her nipples beaded into tight buds. Drawing a deep breath, she placed the helmet on again and turned the ATV down the ridge toward the main house on the Rope Burn Ranch.

In the end, her body had made the decision for her.

Jens swung the hammer with all his might, driving the nail into the loose barn board. Frustration mounted in him. Laurel had been gone for hours. He burned to drive up to her place, but was terrified he’d find the house empty and a “Dear Jens” note on the kitchen counter.

Except there would be a “Dear Holden” note too.

“Fuck.” His muttered curse sent the free-range chicken near him skittering off. The head of his hammer drove into the nail again, and the spike buried into the wood sunk a fraction deeper than the surface.

Maybe Jens had been all wrong to suggest Laurel be with them both. Would she hate him for it? If he couldn’t even claim her as a friend anymore…

The hum of an engine made him jerk. He yanked his head out of the barn and peered toward the direction of the sound.

His heart in his throat, he glimpsed Laurel’s ATV chugging around the bend in the driveway. The hammer fell from his lax fingers and it struck the top of his boot. Pain ricocheted up his shin.

“Damn!” He hopped out into the open, ready to intercept her and beg her forgiveness. Ten apologies tumbled through his head.
Stupid
,
never listen to a smitten cowboy
,
don’t blame you for walking out
,
go ahead and smack my face
.

The cattle gate slammed shut and Holden appeared too. Across the yard, Jens met his gaze. Ire mixed with a sinking sensation. Here was where one of them knew victory or both lost. Because Jens was certain Laurel wasn’t going to jump at his suggestion.

He tightened his hands into fists and went out to meet her as she drew to a stop. She cut the engine and climbed off. He tugged off her helmet and hung it on the handlebars. “Thank you,” she said without looking at him.

Holden came forward too, and suddenly a solidarity rose up between him and Jens. They were fighting on the same side at the moment—fighting to keep her here and for a chance.

Laurel drifted away from them. The lines of her back were rigid, and her loose hair fell forward to conceal her face. Jens swallowed hard against the lump that formed in his throat. Two months together wasn’t long, but in his book, it was a commitment. He’d never wanted anyone this way, and judging by Holden’s pained expression, he hadn’t either.

It’s over
.

Jens and Holden exchanged a look.

Finally Laurel faced them. She looked from Jens to Holden, her face shivering with some emotion Jens couldn’t understand.

“I’ve been thinking.”

Holden shifted from boot to boot.

“And… I’m not ready to give up either of you. I don’t want to stop seeing you, Jens. And Holden and I have had something from the start.”

Those words, “Holden and I have had something from the start” ripped through Jens and speared him with jealousy. Holden had her first and for longer. Did that mean he knew her better?

Jens sucked in a shaky breath. The cool air steadied him. “Yeah?”

Her gaze flashed to his, caught and held. In the depths of her dark eyes, he saw a secret glint that sparked just for him.

Heart thudding, he took a step toward her. As if mirroring Jens’s actions, Holden did the same. Not to be shown up? Or were they truly so alike?

Laurel looked down at her twisting hands. “Yeah, I’ve decided to…take you up on your offer. If you’re still willing.”

A stupid grin broke over Jens’s face. Relief flowed to his fingertips and numbed them. “I’m more than willing.”

She returned his smile and that spark between them increased.

Clearing his throat, Holden gained her attention. “I can’t say I’m not relieved, Laurel.”

Nodding, she fixed him in her gaze and something passed between them too—a passionate flare that caused Jens to look away or be blinded.

“So now what?” Her whole body seemed to yearn for them. She leaned forward on her cowgirl boots, and her curves strained against her clothes.

Jens mentally tossed her into the nearby hay pile and stripped off everything she wore but her boots. His cock throbbed against his zipper, pulsing in time to his heart.

“Jens and I were thinking that maybe we’d take shifts, if that’s okay with you?”

She arched a brow at Holden’s words. “Like…custody?”

Holden gave a huff of laughter. “Nah, let’s not think of it that way. It’s just a way to keep our playing fields equal.”

“Ah.”

Jens didn’t like the way Holden put that—Laurel looked uncomfortable at the suggestion that she was a pawn in a game between the men who wanted her.

“I think Holden means things would be easier for all of us if you knew when to spend time with us.”

The worried crease between her long, dark brows dissipated. “That sounds good.” The warmth was back in her musical voice, and bells resounded in Jens’s core. Whether or not this scheme was a good one, at least he’d continue to hear her sweet voice.

“How do we decide?” she asked.

Holden fished into the front of his jeans. “Why don’t we flip?”

Laurel sank her teeth into her lower lip. Holding off a smile? The corner of her mouth twitched. With a nod, she gave her agreement.

“’Kay. Jens?”

“Heads for evenings.”

Holden narrowed his gaze at him and a tick appeared in the crease of his jaw. “All right. Tails for days.”

He flicked his thumb against the silver coin and sent it end over end into the air. It took forever to fall. Jens held his breath.

Catching the coin, Holden clapped a hand over it. The watery sun slanted through the clouds as all three of them leaned over his palm. Slowly, Holden removed his hand to reveal the gleaming edges of Thomas Jefferson’s head.

Jens narrowly kept himself from fist-punching the air. A grin plastered all over his face, he grabbed up Laurel and bent her over his arm. “You’re all mine tonight.” With that, he crushed his mouth to hers.

As Holden drank in the sight of his best friend kissing the woman of his dreams, emotion after emotion whipped through him. Fury, despair, desolation. But another sensation caught him off guard.

Lord help him—he was turned on.

Watching Jens kiss her was like watching a porn movie. He gripped her perfectly tight, pulling her onto tiptoe, delving his tongue into her hot mouth again and again. And Laurel…

She was everything Holden had dreamed about for eight lonely months. Her round breasts pressed against Jens’s chest, her hips cradling his. The fire between those curvy, denim-clad thighs was all too familiar to Holden. How many times had he sunk into her tight sheath and thrust his way to heaven?

Twisting away, he battled the sensation tearing through his system, which was the equivalent of water poured over a motherboard. Every nerve ending snapped, each muscle hummed. He didn’t know if he’d come unhinged or just…come.

Six months ago, if he’d witnessed this show, he would have yanked his cock from his boxers and mercilessly tugged it to completion. Just the sight of Laurel this way—all sensual female—rocketed him to the peak of desire.

Behind him, he caught Laurel’s quiet moan. Before Holden knew it, he’d turned around and was gaping at them again.

Jens slipped his hands over the indentation of her waist and down to grip her hips. She rocked into him.

Over her head, Jens opened his eyes and looked right at Holden. A shock of electricity ripped through him. As if recognizing this, Jens slowed the kiss and finally broke free.

He spoke quietly to Laurel and her spine stiffened.

“Go on,” he said more loudly.

Releasing her, he gave her a nudge. Holden’s lungs burned as Laurel pivoted. For a moment, she stood there, undecided.

“Remember what I said,” Jens whispered.

Laurel met Holden’s gaze, determination blazing on her beautiful features, and walked right into his arms.

He wrapped his arms around her automatically, drawing her closer and closer. Body warring with his mind, he simply stared at Jens for a long moment. But Laurel trembled against Holden.

His body won.

Dropping his face into her hair, he drew a deep breath of her scent. A woodsy scent, something citrus, and sweet female. But she also smelled like Jens.

How can this work?
Holden’s thought came a split second before she kissed him.

The crush of her ripe lips ignited his carefully banked passions. With a growl, he claimed her. Driving his tongue into her mouth, he forced her lips wide to accept him. He sank his fingers into her ass and hoisted her closer, grinding his erection against her pussy.

Her gasp filled his mouth, and he swallowed it down, hungry for more. Her taste drove him higher. Bending her back over his arm, he rubbed her pussy with his cock through the barrier of their jeans. Small moans escaped her.

The shifting noise of Jens’s boots on the ground broke through Holden’s sexual haze. Opening his eyes, Holden wrapped a hand around Laurel’s nape and held her to his mouth, purposely kissing her in front of his friend the way Jens had.

Jens jerked his head toward the house, and then pointed to himself and his truck—taking himself out of the picture. Giving Holden the go-ahead.

Jens quietly opened the door of his truck and disappeared into the cab. Without taking more time to ponder the lunacy of this situation, Holden swung Laurel up into his arms and stormed toward the house.

Chapter Five

Holden bounced off the doorjamb but never released Laurel’s mouth. She cupped his face, rasping the hair on his jaw with her fingertips and reveling in the sound. She lost herself in the velvety stroke of his tongue, so different from Jens’s, but no less exciting.

What am I doing?
Kissing two men in the same day was stupid. Kissing two men within five minutes? She’d lost her fucking mind.

As Holden swept her up the staircase in his arms, Jens’s words swam through her psyche.
Rather share than lose you. Date both of us.

And his final words, whispered after that knee-weakening kiss. “
Go to him
,
but come back to me
.
I’ll come up to the house tonight
.”

While her mind screamed that this was not right—that she’d regret allowing herself to get carried away—her body succumbed absolutely. Eight months of longing for Holden sliced through the last threads of self-control.

“God, baby, I can’t get enough of you.” Holden nipped her lower lip and drew her mouth back. She swirled her tongue over his as he navigated the hallway to what must have been his bedroom.

She’d never been upstairs in this house. When she and Holden had dated, they always ended up in her bed. And she and Jens hadn’t made it this far.

Guilt sluiced through her, and she withdrew from the kiss. Holden reclaimed her mouth as he kicked open the door. The wooden slab crashed off the inner wall. In five steps, they reached the bed.

“I want you, and this isn’t going to be gentle.” He tossed her onto the bed and blanketed her with his body.

A dark heat wove through her belly, and her pussy throbbed. Countless times she’d fingered herself to this fantasy—of joining with Holden when he returned from Alaska. Every alpha inch of his body flush against hers as he demanded she give in to her passions.

But she’d also thrust her fingers into her pussy to dreams of her first time with Jens. She imagined Jens to be a gentle but thorough lover, able to continue long into the night.

Holden began to strip off her clothes, throwing them over his shoulder piece by piece. “Look at me, Laurel. I have to see your eyes.”

A tremor racked her. She didn’t think she could really let herself go. Yesterday she’d been in Jens’s arms—Jens’s girl. Today she was both Jens’s and Holden’s?

“I don’t—I can’t—”

“Shh.” Holden spattered kisses over her throat and down to her breasts, which were bare. She wore only low-slung jeans, her belly dipping with each excited breath.

Jens stoked these fires, and now Holden will bring me to completion?

Holden licked a path over her collarbone. “Let yourself feel, Laurel.”

“And what happens afterward? When Jens claims his turn?”

A spark lit Holden’s hazel eyes, illuminating the gold flecks. “Then you let yourself feel then too. That’s the deal, right?”