Primal Surrender (4 page)

The blonde vision turned and graced their friends with welcoming easy smiles that would have brought a weaker man to his knees before she turned back to him and held out her small hand, “Nice to meet you, Ryker.”

Finding his tongue was trickier than he could remember, but he managed to mutter a greeting before taking another gulp of his beer. “Do you want a beer?”

“Two please. I owe Mack a beer for his gardening assistance today.”

Chuckling, Ryker met Mack’s eyes and took in the warning look in their blue depths, “Are you saying all those years of helping mama in the rose beds got you a woman, bro? Damn. I knew I should have paid more attention to her.”

“Schmidt Properties is buying up houses left and right. Are you planning to stay permanently, Claudia?” Rachel asked, changing the subject smoothly, and giving Ryker a chance to teach himself to breathe again.

“I’m not sure yet. I came down here for work and once I got a taste of the fresh air and sunshine I ended up buying a house to live in.” Claudia accepted her beer from the bartender and passed one to Mack. “Consider us even, cowboy.”

“Hardly. You’ll realize how invaluable I am once you see those roses in bloom in a couple of weeks,” Mack teased.

“Well, welcome to Stone River!” Rachel said with a giggle, “It’s not the big city, and that’s just one of its many attributes. Where did you buy your house?”

“On Lofton Road.”

Rachel’s eyes lit up, “Oh the two-story? With the old maple tree in the front yard?”

“Rachel is the area’s top realtor,” Sawyer explained proudly.

Claudia smiled, “Really? Then I’m sure we’ve bought property through you.”

“Yes, and I thank you for it,” Rachel said with a grin.

“Anyway, I fell in love with the place the moment I laid eyes on it. I’ve been there a couple of weeks now.”

Ryker knew exactly which house she was talking about. It was white, with a dilapidated picket fence surrounding three sides of the property. The previous owners hadn’t taken the best care of it, and his respect for Claudia grew. Not many city girls would take on repairing an old country farmhouse, hell, most of the women he had dated in the past wouldn’t have been caught dead in Stone River, much less purchasing a fixer upper here.

“You’ve got your work cut out for you on that place,” Mack said, shaking his head.

“I know, but I love a challenge, and the maple tree has to be seventy or eighty years old. The branches are perfect for climbing.”

Ryker snorted, “Climb trees a lot in Austin?”

“Nope, but there’s always a first.”

“You’ve never climbed a tree before?” Sawyer pressed one hand over his heart dramatically, and Rachel smacked his shoulder.

“Stop being a brat, not everyone can grow up on Brooks Pastures. Please excuse him. He and his three brothers got to live the ideal childhood on hundreds of acres of prime ranch land, so he can’t comprehend some of us worked for what we have.” Rachel shot Sawyer a pointed look, but he just shrugged.

When Ryker looked back to Claudia he was surprised to see her discomfited. “I had a pretty good childhood too, but climbing trees was considered extremely unladylike by my parents so it wasn’t allowed. I envy anyone who had the freedom to skin their knees and get grass stains.”

Looking at her with knew interest, he watched as she continued to chatter with Rachel about fixing up her new place. It seemed she was determined to do most of the work herself, and the set of her jaw told him she would try her damnedest to avoid asking for help.

Sawyer’s cell phone jingled interrupting the women’s conversation and he answered it with a frown. “Rogan? Yeah, sure she’s right here.” Passing the phone to his wife, he shrugged sheepishly at the rest of the group as Rachel directed her other husband like a drill sergeant.

“Hey, Ro, what’s up? No, she’s just throwing a fit. Try giving her the pink bunny that’s in her crib, or try a Popsicle. Remember she’s teething, so she’s crankier than normal. Do you need us to come home? Okay, well, call me back if it doesn’t work. Love you too, sexy.”

Ryker caught the look on Claudia’s face and burst out laughing. “Uh, Rach, I think you had better fill the new girl in on your four husbands before she flips out anymore.”

Claudia sputtered, “Four husbands? You have
four
husbands?
Why
?”

“Yes, I have four husbands, and they are all four brothers. Rogan, Parker, Hudson, and Sawyer here.” Rachel tipped her head toward Sawyer and blew him a kiss. “As for the why, well there are many reasons, but it boils down to love.”

Claudia’s eyes couldn’t have grown wider if she stretched them with her fingers as she looked back and forth between Rachel and her husband. “How does that work exactly?”

All three of the men snickered, and Claudia looked a little embarrassed she had asked, but Rachel just shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I get that question a lot, along with many others that are much further over the line. It works because we’re meant to work. As you can see we don’t do everything as a group. The other three guys are home with our one year old daughter, Juliet, while Sawyer and I have a date night.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, but I’ve never heard of a woman having four husbands before. Is that legal?” Claudia looked at Mack and then Ryker, before swallowing hard. Ryker could see her body stiffen in her seat and he wondered what thoughts were going through her pretty blonde head.

“I’m only legally married to Rogan, but everyone in town knows we’re polyamorous. It’s unusual, but we aren’t the only ones,” Rachel answered, patting Claudia’s hand to reassure her. “In fact, my best friend, Zoey, just married the three Keegan brothers last Christmas.”

“Wow. I just…umm…wow.”

Everyone laughed as Claudia tried to absorb the new information. Thankfully a local country band took the tiny bar stage and announced they would be singing the classic Gary Allen song, “Life ain’t always beautiful”. Immediately Sawyer and Mack took the opportunity to ask the women to dance, and the foursome left Ryker sitting alone at the bar with their drinks.

It was a metaphor for what his life had become. At one time he had been the center of every party. The star football player who was usually footing the bill for the bar tab as well as taking home his choice of the single women in attendance. One careless tackle and he was sitting on the sidelines in every possible way. His cock and his wallet regretted the move.

Sighing out his frustration, he finished off yet another beer and settled in for a long night of watching the woman of his dreams dance her sexy ass off with his older brother while asking himself why the hell he rode along. It wasn’t like he needed the reminder of his new loser status.

*****

Claudia accepted Mack’s request for a dance, but she caught herself throwing glances toward Ryker every time they spun around the floor. She wasn’t naïve enough to believe the smile and bravado the sad man put on. There was a well of pain inside of him, and she felt a disturbing desire to wrap him in a hug and comfort him.

Even as distracted by Ryker as she was, she couldn’t help but enjoy being in Mack’s arms dancing. He hadn’t been lying, he was a hell of a dancer, and her body fit his as though they were statues carved from the same block of clay. The fragrance of leather and man filled her nose leaving her slightly lightheaded and fully aroused. Mack and Ryker Thompson were the largest and sexiest men she had encountered since she arrived in Stone River. It was a good thing they weren’t both vying for her attention because she wasn’t sure she could have chosen one over the other.

Mack was barely shorter than Ryker, but they were both built like body builders. Wide at the shoulders with thick muscular thighs, that would surely have amazing stamina when necessary. Ryker was darker in coloring, and his hair was sandy brown instead of blonde. The brown hair continued down his cheeks and covered his jaw and chin in a neatly trimmed beard and mustache that looked soft to the touch. His eyes were gray blue and framed with long thick eyelashes. Between Ryker’s eyes and Mack’s dimples she would be a puddle of goo if she spent much time with them. She couldn’t even fathom how Rachel handled being married to more than one man. Claudia couldn’t seem to keep one happy for very long.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Mack murmured near her ear and she jumped.

“I’m fine, sorry, just a little distracted. Thank you for the dance, you’ve got moves, cowboy.” She leaned back to look up at him from her much shorter height, raising a brow in question.

“So do you. At least a few years of dance classes under your belt if I’m not mistaken.”

She snorted out a laugh, “Only about a dozen. When you’re a daughter in the Schmidt family it’s a given that you will have proper hobbies, such as ballet, piano, and voice lessons.”

“I’ll have to convince you to sing for me soon.”

The subtle innuendo wasn’t lost on her as his voice dropped an octave. She had no doubt in her mind he could make her whole body sing if she gave him the go ahead. Instead, she let her gaze wander around the crowded bar, refusing to acknowledge the sexual chemistry between them.

After a few moments of silence, he spoke again, “I learned to dance in my mama’s living room. She insisted all men needed to know how to dance a slow song with their lady.”

“Your mama sounds like an amazing woman.” Claudia relaxed as he changed the subject.

“She is, well, she was.”

“Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t realize she had passed.”

Mack shook his head and smiled, “No, she hasn’t yet. She’s in a nursing home in Dallas. About four years ago she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and she’s deteriorated a lot since then. Nowadays she doesn’t remember who we are when Ryker and I visit, and she has to be kept in a locked facility so she doesn’t wander off for good.”

Claudia could see how much it pained him, so she just nodded in agreement, “It’s the best thing for her condition I suppose.”

“Yeah, it is. Sometimes I wish for a few minutes with her completely clear and other times I’m glad she can’t see the way things have turned out.” The wistfulness in his voice grabbed at her heart and wouldn’t let go.

“You seem to be doing pretty well for yourself, I’m sure she would be proud of you.”

His booming laugh was followed by a tighter embrace as he slid his hands around from her hips to the curve about her ass, and tugged her closer. “You’re right, she would have been proud of me even if I was living on the street. I just mean it would have been hard on her to see Ryker struggling. He’s had a rough time of it lately.”

Claudia glanced over at the other man, and noted the empty beer bottles stacking up in front of him, “What happened to him?”

Mack shook his head, “Not my story to tell, but suffice it to say he’s in limbo right now. I suppose we both are.”

“Really?” She stared up into his blue eyes as the song shifted and the band began singing a Tim McGraw hit. “What could possibly put a pair of sexy cowboys in limbo?”

*****

Wasn’t that the million dollar question? It was exactly what Mack had been asking himself for the last couple of years. Cocking his head, he winked down at her, “Sexy cowboys, huh?”

The woman was utterly gorgeous, even when she was rolling her eyes at him. She felt soft and lush against his body, and he was doing his damnedest to hold himself in check. If she felt the full power of the lust coursing through him right now, she would probably slap him back to Tuesday and take off running. Claudia continued to surprise him. Her concern for his brother, and now her concern for his own situation, made his constantly perverted thoughts even more out of place at the moment.

From the second he laid eyes on her car his body was humming, and when she climbed out wearing painted on blue jeans, boots, and a tank top held up by two tiny straps his good intentions of being a gentlemen seemed to just fizzle.

“It’s a long story, better saved for our second date.”

Her eyebrow rose under the sweep of her bangs and the surprise on her face nearly made him laugh. “What makes you think there will be a second date?”

“You’re right. I’m jumping the gun. I haven’t even kissed you yet. For all I know you might be a horrible kisser and I won’t want a second date.” She stared at him with wide eyes, and then suddenly she threw her head back in laughter. Loud belly rolling laughter that warmed him from the inside out.

“You are just too much, cowboy. I think I could use that beer now.” She stepped away from him, and he immediately felt the loss. Refusing to allow her too much distance, he laced his fingers with hers, and let her tug him off the dance floor and back to the bar.

Ryker gave him a curious look, “What did you do? Step on her toes?”

Mack started to shake his head, but Claudia jumped to his defense.

“Nope, I’m just thirsty. Your brother is surprisingly light on his feet for someone his size.” She slid her curvy backside onto the padded barstool next to Ryker, and Mack took up residence behind her, his hand resting on her hip. Something about the way Ryker smiled back at her made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

He watched cautiously as she sipped her beer and chatted easily with his brother. Maybe she was distancing herself from him because he wasn’t the Thompson brother she was really interested in. Suddenly his beer tasted bitter, and his stomach twisted into a knot. The two were joking with each other as though they were old friends. In fact, Mack hadn’t seen Ryk look this relaxed the whole time he had been in Stone River.

“Are you hungry, Claudia? We can grab a table and order some food.”

She smiled at him, and the pit in his stomach relaxed. Surely she wouldn’t smile at him like that if she was really uninterested. “That would be great. I wasn’t sure if they served food here or not, but I skipped lunch so I’m famished.”

“As long as you’re a meat eater you won’t be disappointed. Robin’s has the best steaks and burgers for a hundred miles,” Mack answered as he looked over the heads of most everyone in the room to find a table. Sometimes being abnormally tall was a positive. “There’s one over by the dart boards.”