Pushin' Buttons (Boot Knockers) (20 page)

“Hugh—”

“Don’t bother. Just go.” Hugh couldn’t meet Riggs’s eyes. If he did, he’d see things—feel things—he didn’t want to.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Riggs’s shoulders slump. Then he drifted past Hugh and onto the porch.

Hugh went inside and closed the door. Sibyll sat on a chaise lounge, face red, hair disheveled. He didn’t need to ask what the pair had been doing.

She started to get up, but he waved her down and took the seat opposite. Best to get this over with, make it short and sweet. He stared at her bare pink toes, memories of sucking them sharp in his mind.

He drew a deep breath. “Sibyll, I’m stepping down. You only have two days left, and Riggs can take over easily enough. He’s in good enough health.”

Dead silence. His heart ticked off the seconds. When he stole a look at her, she wore a mask, her features ravaged by shock and pain. “Hugh…”

“I’ll have Holly complete the paperwork on this, but you just have a good time. Enjoy the rest of your stay at the Boot Knockers Ranch.” Before he could take back every fucking last word, he lurched to his feet and stomped to the door.

Severing ties was right. He couldn’t lead her on. No, he couldn’t lead himself on. Confusion wobbled his resolve as he realized she might actually have feelings for both him and Riggs. And what exactly did Hugh feel?

He quietly closed the door of Bungalow 9 and walked away, burning to get in his truck and drive until he got his head on straight. Instead he headed to the bunkhouse and the bed that didn’t feel like his without either Riggs or Sibyll in it.

He slammed the door on the emotions bleeding from his heart.

Chapter Eleven

Jack, in all his six-feet, two-hundred-muscled pounds of glory, gripped his cock at the root and directed it into Kayla’s tight body. Riggs’s own shaft bobbed on his bare stomach.

Kayla moaned as Jack filled her. Riggs hardly registered her noise, because he only heard Sibyll’s sweet sounds in his head.

After leaving her to Hugh, he’d gone straight to Jack and asked if he was ready for that threesome now. Kayla had been more than up for it, and Jack had eagerly sucked Riggs off as promised.

With each erotic pull of his mouth, Riggs only hated himself more. When it seemed Jack would get lock jaw from Riggs’s inability to come, he’d brought Sibyll and Hugh to mind and had one of the biggest orgasms of his life.

Kayla arched her back and thrust against Jack, taking him again and again. The bed shimmied under them, and Riggs braced his knees against the side, his dick in hand.

It was unlikely he’d come again, no matter how turned on he was from watching this couple. Hugh and Sibyll were probably doing this right now too, and Riggs was more on the outside now than ever.

Jack fondled her nipples, shooting Riggs a glance to see if he’d do the honors. Riggs swallowed. The last thing he wanted was to touch her. Sure she was gorgeous and eager, but his heart had drawn a bulls-eye on a little scientist. Having feelings for both Hugh and Sibyll should be a happy experience, yet inside he felt grim.

When Kayla came around Jack, Riggs fisted his cock, imagining it was Sibyll, and Hugh’s cock on the receiving end. His eyelids grew heavy.

“Oh fuck, baby. You’re so fucking tight, but I’m gonna plow you until you’re not!” Jack snapped his hips, driving deeper. She cried out. Jack cried out.

It was over. Short and emotionless.

Riggs smiled at them, though he knew it didn’t reach his eyes. As Jack pulled a tired Kayla into his arms, Riggs got dressed, gave Jack a nod and left.

Outside, he blinked at the change. How long had he been in there? Dusk had fallen. Everyone would be at the grub house, but he wasn’t remotely hungry.

Sex—only sex—that’s what he’d just experienced. With Hugh and then Sibyll, it was different. He was linked to them. Talking to Sibyll about the ranch and her life enthralled him. Sharing a passion with Hugh for the ranch and horses thrilled him.

Without either in his life, he might as well take a lowly cowpoke position and simply try to exist.

He moved down the row of bungalows—6, 7 and 8. At number 9 he stopped. Everything in his being demanded he go inside and take what he wanted from the people he cared for.

Steeling himself, he opened the door without knocking.

Keening his ears, he expected the sounds of lovemaking, but he caught a sniffle that made his throat close up.

“Sibyll?” He ventured into the bedroom, where he found her facedown on the bed. Hugh was nowhere to be seen.

Riggs grabbed her shoulders and rolled her over. God, what were they doing to her? She’d come to the ranch to be babied, loved, worshipped, and he and Hugh had screwed that.

Her face was blotchy and tear-stained, and her nose was running. Quickly he strode to the bathroom and returned with a box of tissues. She took one and gave a pathetic blow.

“Sweetheart, what happened?”

She dragged in a hitching breath and blew with more force. Then she raised her head, and what little composure she had crumbled. “He left. Stepped down as my c-cowboy.” The last ended on a wail.

Riggs’s chest burned as he pulled her into his arms. He petted her hair as she cried all over his shirt. Damn that stupid man. Had he expected Sibyll to shrug off his revelation that he was leaving?

“He said you would…you would take care of me.”

“I will,” he said at once, but his promise went way beyond sex. He tugged her across his lap, cradling her perfectly. She curled around him, sniffing and hiccupping. He lost himself a little more to her.

“I
will
take care of you, Sibyll. But I think we need to talk about why you’re crying.”

She pulled away to look at him. God, she was beautiful and the most tender-hearted woman he’d ever met. He lost himself in her eyes for a long minute. Directing a tendril of hair behind her ear, he asked, “You feel more, don’t you?”

“Yes!” she burst, crying again. “From the start I didn’t feel this was just a game or a bunch of orgasms.”

“What do you feel, sweetheart?” He probed deep, hoping to see some spark there for him as well as Hugh.

She cupped Riggs’s jaw. “I don’t ever want to leave this ranch, that’s what.”

Warmth spread through his chest. He dropped a kiss to the crease between her brows, closing his eyes as he did. She smelled of peach body wash today, and dammit, that wasn’t right—she should smell like him and Hugh.

He kissed her softly, pulling away almost as soon as the caress began. “I think we’re in agreement that Hugh has fucked this up.”

She gave a throaty laugh. “Yes.”

“And we both…have feelings for him.”

“Yes.” Stronger this time.

“And we need to make him see just how he feels about us.”

She smiled. “How?”

“I think I have a plan.” He stared past her at the fading light, working out where Hugh would be at this time of day.

“What will we do?” She rested her head on Riggs’s chest, and his heart leaped. She was so eager to be loved. When she’d applied to come to the Boot Knockers Ranch, they’d gotten a prize.

“Hugh is a possessive man. He doesn’t like seeing us together. I say we let him believe we’ve fallen totally, completely in love and taunt him with it. But our time is short, so we need to strike now.”

When she smiled, he saw the hope in her eyes. “Where do we find him?”

He set her on her feet and stood too. “We’ll look in the bunkhouse first. If that fails, we’re going to the barn.”

Galvanized by their plan, she ran her fingers through her hair and scrubbed her face with a discarded bath towel. He stared at her.

“What?” she asked, running her tongue over her lip nervously.

“How do you look so gorgeous after all that crying?”

She flushed. “I’m ready.”

He grinned and steered her toward the door with a hand above her ass. “Me too. It helps that you look like you’ve just had a good fuck.” He slipped his hand down and pinched her round cheek.

She squealed and quickened her step. “If this works, I’m going to have the best fuck ever. With
both
of my cowboys.”

“Hugh, what are you doing here?” Holly’s voice startled him. He turned on the spinny desk chair to look at her.

He tapped a stack of files. “I’m just going through next week’s client files.” His voice sounded gritty with disuse. He’d been sitting here for the better part of two hours. He’d tried escaping to the bunkhouse, but Riggs had brought Sibyll in and they’d sat on his bed talking in low whispers until Hugh thought he’d lose his mind. When Riggs had leaned in to kiss her, Hugh had finally blown a gasket and fled.

Then he tried the barn. The rescued horse was on its feet, and Hugh had spent long minutes brushing him—until a feminine giggle he recognized all too well broke the silence of the barn.

After that Hugh had decided a quick trip to the grub house for coffee was what he needed. Except he didn’t even get to pour a cup before Riggs brought her in. He piled a plate with strawberries and led her to the cozy corner to feed her.

Damn him.

But really it was Hugh’s fault, wasn’t it?

Holly circled the desk and rested a hand on Hugh’s shoulder. She stared at his face, as if searching for something.

Uncomfortable, he asked, “Did you get your fantasy fulfilled?”

She removed her hand from his shoulder and blushed so hotly dew dotted her hairline. “Yes, it was…a night to remember.”

He couldn’t help but grin. “Good.”

She looked at him closely again. “What about you, Hugh?”

Sweeping a file aside and opening another, he tried to act as if his chest wasn’t on fire. “I’m going to finish this then go to bed.”

“Alone?”

The words in front of him blurred, along with the photo of the meek-looking female who would inevitably become a siren by the end of her week at the ranch. He scuffed a hand over his face. “You heard?”

“The whole ranch is talking about it, Hugh.”

He issued a ragged sigh. “They gossip more than women. You’d think with all this work, they’d be occupied. Guess I need to assign more ranch chores.”

Holly adopted an understanding smile. “Do you want to talk about why you did it?”

“No.”

“Okay then.” She pulled up a crate of supplies and sat on it. She always dressed in office attire while working, but since it was after hours, she wore jeans and a T-shirt that barely skimmed her waistband. When she moved, a sliver of tanned skin flashed.

He shook his head. “Is this a psychiatry office now?”

“You know it is. I counsel cowboys all the time. Why not you?”

He opened another file and stared at the photo unseeingly. If she thought he was going to pour out his soul, she was mistaken. All he wanted was to get through these files so he could fall into bed and sleep away this damned pain.

Visions of Riggs and Sibyll paraded through his mind. What was he doing to her right now?

“You broke all the rules, Hugh. First you stole her, then you abandoned her.”

Hugh firmed his lips to keep from raging at Holly. She meant well, but he was about to send her away crying. Scooping up the files, he stood and tucked them under his arm. “I’ll finish this in my room.”

He didn’t make it five steps before she called him. He pivoted to see her waving a file. “You forgot one.”

He stomped back and plucked the file from her hand. When he added it to his stack, he saw the name on the very first file he’d pulled—Sibyll Green.

Throat tight with the need to roar, he stormed out of the office. Crossing the field to the bunkhouse in long, angry paces didn’t alleviate his annoyance. And reaching the door only to come face to face with Riggs really didn’t.

“What the fuck do you want?” he growled.

Riggs only stared at him. God, Hugh hated Riggs’s ability to get to him without a goddamn word.

He shoved by him. Riggs caught his arm.

When Hugh whirled, he dropped the files. They spread over the grass, a fan of women’s hopes and dreams. He glared at Riggs, tensed to punch out his teeth if he so much as chided Hugh about his decision.

“You gonna hit me?”

“Maybe.” Hugh fisted his hands.

“It won’t make it better.”

He shook his head. “I’m not talking about this.”

Riggs narrowed his eyes at him. “You can’t hide from it.”

“From what?”

“The fact that you’re wrecked.” He moved close to Hugh, sending him reeling. He fucking smelled like
her
. Today it was peach. Hugh loved how she changed body washes daily—it said so much about her personality. She was exactly the kind of client the ranch loved. Someone willing to switch it up, explore.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Riggs.”

He sighed and leaned against the rough wood wall as if they carried on a conversation about the price of horse feed. “If you don’t like seeing us together, you shouldn’t have left.”