Stud ranch the boot knoc.., p.9
Stud Ranch (The Boot Knockers Ranch Book 13), page 9
“I think our woman’s getting tense again, Shaw.” Dylan’s drawl sent a spike of fresh need through her core.
Shaw’s crooked, bad-boy grin made her heart jog as he slowly moved down her body. Dylan hooked his arm around her knee, parting her for Shaw. The whisper of his beard stubble on her inner thighs drew a cry to her lips, but when he buried his tongue in her pussy, she couldn’t try to think anymore and submitted to the sensation of being pleasured by two men.
* * * * *
Dylan perched on the edge of the bed, watching the pale blue morning light creep over Sloane’s beautiful face. The brushstrokes of light and shadow, and a few pale freckles too, was a masterpiece he couldn’t bring himself to look away from.
Their night together—shared with Shaw—had left her in a peaceful slumber.
Shaw stood a few feet away, seemingly in a similar state of shock as Dylan felt. He pulled on his jeans but didn’t button them. Then he spent a long heartbeat gazing down at their sleeping lover.
Slicing a hand through his hair, he walked over to an armchair in the corner of the bedroom and sank to it.
“You look as dazed as I feel,” Shaw grated out in a tone pitched low enough not to wake Sloane.
His heart launched up his throat. Shaking his head, he battled to make some response. “She’s fucking perfect.”
Shaw’s dark gaze pierced his. “Yup.”
He had so many questions. But the one eating at him the most had nothing to do with Sloane and Shaw’s past—he was thinking of their future.
He couldn’t utter any of the words.
He was a floater in life. He was here right now. Tomorrow could be a different story, and he’d just roll with whatever happened. He didn’t call the shots—the universe put him where he was supposed to be.
Finally, he stood from the bed and went into the bathroom. A nice, hot shower always worked to clear his head. He used the technique to get his head on before bull riding. One small mistake could see him injured at best, and the worse alternative was he’d wind up losing his life to a dangerous bull.
Showers also helped him after a ride, where he’d let the hot spray ease all the sore muscles he had from being whipped on the back of a two-thousand-pound beast. It offered him time to replay the ride in his mind and analyze all the moves he’d made that could have made it a perfect score.
The hours spent with Shaw and Sloane were just as hairy as eight seconds on the back of a bull, in his opinion.
Seeing them together, it was obvious they still shared a love for each other. For himself, he liked Sloane—a lot. He thought of Shaw as a good friend and a lover he hoped to enjoy again soon.
But it was hard not to fall in love with their love.
Dylan stood in the expansive luxury shower with several showerheads working their magic. He hardly took note of how good it felt, though, because last night had messed with his head worse than any BDSM scene he’d ever dabbled in or witnessed on that stage.
The steam swirling around him only cleared his mind enough for him to see that he’d lost a little bit of himself to Shaw when they shared that other woman. It hadn’t really been about her. Even though she was the focus of their attention, it was Shaw that Dylan wanted.
The crazy thing was, he wanted Sloane in the exact same way.
Best to walk away. Make a clean break. He could go into the office and tell them he needed to leave for the rest of the week.
If Shaw and Sloane got back together, he’d be out of the picture. Since they shared a child, it was only right.
Being together again might show them that they were better apart too, and in that case, Sloane would go home, and Shaw would go back to being his grumpy self.
He turned his face into the spray, letting it run down his body.
Either way, where did that leave him?
* * * * *
Shaw slumped in the leather chair, listening to the drone of Dylan’s shower, his stare riveted on Sloane. She always looked stunning, but there was something about her in sleep that brought out the protector in him. The vulnerability revealed in the softening of her features.
He saw the changes two years apart had made. Motherhood had given her a core of steel that only enhanced how lovely she was, but knowing that he’d let her carry that burden alone riddled him with guilt.
His throat burned around the lump that settled there. He still loved her—always would. Seeing her again wasn’t just a confirmation—it chiseled the reality in granite. Nothing could ever erase it.
And Dylan. Fuck. Just fuck. Why did he have to give Shaw those looks he did—like he wanted him just as damn much as he wanted Sloane?
Shaw was far from homophobic. Hell, he’d even played hockey with guys who preferred the opposite sex. But what good would it do if Shaw led Dylan on? He’d only hurt his friend.
He had some tough choices to make—now, before Sloane woke up. Leaving her again would cause more damage, and he’d already screwed up in thinking that walking out of her and Marigold’s life would cause less pain.
He should give her up again. Let Dylan handle it from here.
Dammit, he didn’t want that.
Since no clear answer made itself known, the only thing to do was live in the present. Sticking around her and Dylan seemed the better option.
At least it would get Sloane on her journey to healing—her reason for coming to The Boot Knockers Ranch. Staying involved with Dylan might smooth things over between them, until the point where they could return to normal everyday life.
For Shaw? It would be the equivalent of taking a hockey stick to the face and getting knocked out.
He issued a low sigh. He’d take the pain, shoulder the burden for all three of them. So what could he do to keep all of them happy right this minute?
Food was a necessity. He could manage that easily by ordering a tray from the dining hall. Then what?
He flipped through several options in the ranch schedule. The BDSM show was over for the week…and look where that landed the three of them. The night might have been mind-blowing, but it had created more problems.
Tonight’s entertainment was taken care of with rodeo night. The guys competed in real rodeo events, and Dylan would be showing off in all his glory. Shaw wasn’t cut out for rodeos, especially with his leg injury still nagging at him daily, but he could still sit a horse.
He turned his head to look out the window. Horses grazed in the pasture in the distance, giving him the spark of an idea. They could take Sloane horseback riding, the perfect segue to rodeo night.
Then when Dylan came out of the arena, bruised and sore after his bull ride, he and Sloane could make him feel all better.
He was on his feet before conscious thought kicked in. Crossing the room to reach the bathroom, he tossed a glance at Sloane to make sure she was still asleep. When he tested the door, the handle turned.
Steam fogged the air, but he could make out Dylan in the shower, one hand braced on the wall, head bowed.
Shaw’s stomach dipped. Was the man just as tormented as he was? Hell.
He shoved his jeans off and stepped into the shower. Dylan didn’t turn. Only the muscle of his shoulder rippling alerted Shaw that he acknowledged that someone had joined him.
Standing naked in the shower with a man didn’t feel as odd as he might have once thought. He released the air he’d held contained in his lungs and reached out a hand to touch Dylan.
His palm settled on his chiseled side. Still, Dylan didn’t move or even twitch. Water sluiced over his bowed head and ran down his nape and the spine that was layered in muscle earned from hard work and the conditioning it took to stay in competitive bull riding.
With a pounding urge to give the man some ease, he skated his hand down his body, over his ribs to his hip. When he ran his hand around to Dylan’s cock, he felt the man jerk.
Before he could order him to leave, he locked an arm around Dylan’s middle and wrapped his fingers around his cock. Dylan let out a groan, then a louder one when Shaw gave his cock a slow jack, rolling the head through his fingers.
He could do this for his friend—lover. He wanted to give him this release.
Running his cock through his fist, squeezing the head, he skated his other hand up Dylan’s chest and pinched his nipple. The sharp intake of breath told him how much he enjoyed that.
His body moved in Shaw’s grip. Releasing his cock, he reached over and pumped some bodywash into his hand. Soaping up his lover’s cock, massaging the soap into his balls, while teasing each of his nipples, had Shaw’s own cock seeping precum.
He could don a condom and slide into Dylan’s ass like he did once before. But he wasn’t taking his own ease today—this was for Dylan.
Every flick of his wrist pulled another low gasp from him. His thick length strained in his grip. The pulsing steel felt good in his hand, and he closed his eyes, reveling in the act of giving.
When he slid his hand around to his cheeks and ran one finger between the hard planes of Dylan’s ass, over his pucker, his spine bowed.
“Your fingers,” he grated out.
He worked some of the soap over the tight ring before slipping in two fingers. “Like this?”
Dylan growled in response. His cock grew harder in his grasp, and he pumped it faster in time to the stroke of his fingers. He easily located the spot that made Dylan writhe and blanked his mind to anything but his lover’s responses.
He bowed. He rocked. He bucked his hips. When his ass clamped on his fingers hard and his cock stiffened even more, Shaw’s own cock streamed with pent-up desire.
Dylan’s muffled roar and the spurts of cum creaming over his hand in time to the pulse in his ass went on and on for long seconds.
Shaw’s insides warmed. Something he’d learned on the ranch was that giving pleasure had a high of its own.
Slowly, he pumped his cock for another minute and slid his fingers free. Then he stepped out of the shower, leaving his lover alone.
Chapter Nine
“I’m nervous.” Sloane eyed the horse. “It’s bigger than I thought it would be.”
Shaw slanted a look at Dylan. “She’s never ridden. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
She shook her head before the man could respond. “No, no. I came here to ride a horse and a cowboy. I’m going to do this.”
Dylan stood at the horse’s head, soothing it with soft words while Sloane set her foot in the stirrup. Then she moved upward and hooked her leg over the horse the way the guys instructed her to.
The animal’s huge body shifted under her, but she concentrated on staying seated. Shaw assured her this was the calmest mount they had, which eased some of her fears.
“Grab the reins, Sloane. That’s it. Just like that.” Shaw grinned up at her. The flash of his white teeth was an even better reward than not being tossed on her ass.
She pulled in a deep breath and waited for the horse to settle. Sure enough, it did.
Then Dylan shot her a smile, complete with that dimple that made her toes curl. “Remember, I’m going to have your horse roped to mine during the ride along the trail. It won’t stray.”
She nodded and got her bearings while the guys mounted their own horses. The paddock was hopping with people going in and out. Many of the Boot Knockers were there performing chores.
When a guy shot Shaw a dirty look, he only cocked his brow in answer. She might not feel as if she knew this Shaw Sheridan very well, but that exchange was something she’d seen before on the ice.
Other hockey players liked to test Shaw, even guys on his own team. He never let them get in his head.
No, the only person she’d ever seen him lose control with was her. That night they decided to call it quits despite her being pregnant, tears had run down his face.
The sight would never leave her memory. On occasion, it rose up to haunt her in her weaker moments, the ones when she questioned if she’d made the right choice to go their separate ways.
How many times had she wondered what might have been if they’d only given it one more day, a month, another year? If they’d be happily married right now and raising their daughter together.
When Dylan twisted in the saddle, throwing another dimpled grin her way, her heart gave a little flip.
If she and Shaw were okay, she never would have come to the ranch. She never would have met this amazing man who was so giving and caring, despite the fact that she and Shaw had tossed a massive wrench into the situation by sharing a complicated past.
“Ready, love?” Dylan called to her, and she nodded.
When he urged his horse forward, hers followed its lead, just as they said the animal would. Sloane held on the way they told her to. With each stride the animal took, she grew less nervous. Soon, she was able to hang on and not worry she’d drop to her death while enjoying the scenery.
The Alaskan landscape had a beauty and charm unlike any other place she’d ever been. She’d been to exotic locales to make movies and even spent time in Europe in her early twenties, but this world switched on a light inside her.
The leaves were greener than anywhere else. The mountains higher, sharper; the air fresher. She drew in deep breaths of it, filling her lungs over and over, letting it blow away her cares.
Though she still felt the strain of being in Shaw’s presence, she wasn’t letting it bother her. They all seemed to be living in the moment. Actually, when she woke up, there seemed to be a difference in the guys.
Even after their wild threesome, she’d picked up on a constraint between them. Now that seemed to have vanished, blown out to sea on the warm air currents.
Feeling more confident on horseback, she removed one hand from the reins she held loosely and brushed a tendril of hair behind her ear.
The trail they took carved through thick underbrush and eventually straightened out. When they started up a hill, she slid backward in the saddle. She let out a gasp, and Shaw moved to her side.
“You all right?” His sharp gaze locked on her face. Suddenly aware of how well he really knew her, she schooled her features to not reveal fear.
“I’m fine. Where are we going, anyway?” The horse continued up the incline that rose in increments toward a peak as sharp as one of the big mountains.
“The trail takes us through some beautiful country. Just over the ridge you’ll see some prime grazing lands where our cattle spend the warmer months of the year.”
Now this Shaw was new.
She arched a brow. “Since when do you know about cattle?”
He cocked his head to the side. “I have spent a lot of months living like a cowboy.”
Today he looked the part too, sporting a long-sleeved chambray shirt open at the collar, a pair of jeans almost worn to the same hue as the shirt, and a brown cowboy hat that she never, in a million years of seeing him in a hockey helmet, would have been able to picture him in.
“It suits you.”
He stared at her for a long moment while their horses continued up the incline. Shaw glanced at Dylan in the lead, and she wondered if he could hear their conversation over the rustle of horse and leather.
She plowed on with the topic. “Did you change your mind about coaching hockey in Alaska?”
The flex of his jaw only added to his cowboy allure. “I’d still like to do that.”
Since he didn’t say anything more, they rode in silence to the top of the incline. As she crested the rise and saw the beautiful land below, she wished she could put the brakes on her horse and stop to just stare at the striking scene.
A river cut a path through the valley below. The pale blue water glittered in the sunlight, and tall reeds grew on the banks.
“Are we crossing that?”
“Yup. Don’t worry—it’s not deep at this time of year. Just hang on, and grip your horse with your thighs…” Shaw broke off at the innuendo in his words.
Oh, she’d be gripping someone with her thighs. Two someones, if she had any say in the matter. Just watching both men roll in their saddles, their hard thighs tensing and their spines straight, lit her body up. The sway of the horse underneath her didn’t help her arousal either.
When she made it to the bottom and crossed the creek without any issue, she punched a fist into the air.
Shaw laughed at her. “Good job, love.”
Her heart snagged on that endearment. Love.
Dylan used it too, though she never gave it a thought from him. But Shaw had once loved her.
She brushed the thought away. She was just being touchy about his feelings. Two years was plenty of time to fall out of love with her.
She, on the other hand, wished she’d been so lucky. It would be so much easier to just appreciate Shaw for his body and amazing skills in bed and ignore the feelings he roused in her.
Second chances didn’t happen often, and they definitely didn’t happen on sex ranches. She’d just get through this week and try to relax and enjoy the experience so she could return to her daughter rejuvenated, just in time for the terrible twos everyone warned her about.
Though she couldn’t imagine her sweet little girl being anything but the same loveable child who climbed in her lap several times a day with a teddy bear and her thumb plugged into her mouth.
On the other side of the river, Dylan drew his horse to a halt. He twisted to look at them. “You two want to take a break?”
Before she could answer, Shaw swung his leg off his horse. “I think a short break will benefit all of us.”
He walked over to her, hands up to help her out of the saddle. She stared down into Shaw’s eyes, her heart tripling its beat. How did she get so deep so fast?
She was in over her head.
* * * * *
Dylan crouched on the riverbank and plucked a long blade of grass. Sticking it in his mouth, he gave it a thoughtful crush with his teeth.
The fresh tang of the grass hit his taste buds, making his mouth water.
Watching Shaw and Sloane interact with each other left his head clouded with confusion. Their history showed itself in the way they moved together. The way they looked into each other’s eyes.
