Lasso My Heart (6 page)

He glanced away and nodded. “Young enough.”

“What’s he need to work on?”

“He has a habit of leading with his shoulders, not his nose. And he isn’t stopping as well as I’d like. I want him committing when I put the brakes on.”

“I have to admit I haven’t worked a horse for a number of years,” Tucker drawled.

“That’s okay. You can run the cow.”

They both turned to the cow standing in the holding pen.

Tucker’s grin crinkled his eyes. “Now opening a chute’s something I might know a thing or two about.”

Since the squash casserole incident last night, Josh hadn’t been able to stop thinking about his old flame. He and Tucker had always got on well, but now that they were a bit older and wiser, Josh’s reactions to Tucker seemed more intense. He couldn’t deny his hunger for hard, bruising kisses and the exquisite clench around his cock as he entered Tucker’s firm body.

He swung into the saddle, ignoring the stirring of his cock. With a flick of his head, he sent Tucker toward the chute. The animal didn’t rush into the pen the way a bull would—he loped in.

Tucker laughed and swatted it on the ass, sending it into a jog. “Different from what I’m used to,” he called to Josh.

The confusion inside Josh was tamped down as he sent his cutting horse toward the cow. He got distracted by something outside the pen, and Josh brought him around. When he didn’t stop where he wanted, Josh used his knees to direct him. He backed him up, changed positions.

Josh took him toward the cow, riding and stopping again.

The sun was just spreading its fingers through the sky, and sweat broke out on Josh’s brow. Training horses was hot work, which was why he did it before dawn.

Tucker whooped, and the cow trotted across the pen. Sending the horse after it, Josh tried not to get distracted himself. Having Tucker around had pulled his head out of the ranching game over and over the past few days.

“Step on the gas!” Tucker hollered.

Josh kneed his horse. It launched after the cow. When it stopped exactly as Josh wanted, he ended the ride on a positive note and with a grin.

“Just what you were shooting for, right?” Tucker came forward, fishing in his pocket for something. He produced a few lumps of sugar, which he offered the horse.

Josh slid to the ground and patted the horse. “Good boy. Tomorrow we’ll work on his right spin, but this was good progress.”

Tucker offered the horse another lump. Josh’s chest constricted. Seeing that broad palm raised deep memories in him. How many times had Tucker offered a little something sweet to him when they were alone?

As Tucker’s gaze met his, those sparks ignited into a wildfire.

Tucker stepped forward, palm still up. Despite the horse spit coating it, Josh placed his hand over it. They stared at each other for a long heartbeat.

“Damn,” he whispered and dropped his hand.

Tucker moved closer, bringing his body heat against Josh.

“If you were a horse, I’d ask you to back up.” Josh’s voice sounded strained.

“I never did listen very well.”

“Maybe you need some trainin’.” Josh’s jeans were unbearably tight. He dipped his gaze to Tucker’s mouth then flicked his attention back up to his eyes.

Tucker’s lips curved up on one side. He knew exactly what Josh was looking at, damn him. “People have tried to train me, but I don’t listen.”

“Thick-headed is what you are.”

Tucker’s eyelids drooped lower over his smoldering eyes. “You’d know how thick it is.”

Fuck.
How many times had he taken his lover’s cock into his throat and sucked him dry? Josh brushed his fingers beneath his nose to remove the remembered scents of Tucker’s body.

Tucker stepped closer yet. Josh couldn’t move away if he wanted—his feet had grown roots and burrowed deep in the earth.

“I can see you still think about us.”

“Thinkin’ right now,” Josh admitted. “But I can’t act on it. Dixie—”

“Was pretty damn keyed up seeing us both in our skivvies last night. Didn’t you notice?”

Yeah, he’d noticed. And he’d taken advantage of how fucking wet she was half the night. After he’d spent himself, he knew she wanted more, but exhaustion had overtaken him. It was as if he needed backup. A pinch hitter.

The idea slammed him out of nowhere. With a growl of desire building in his throat, he backed away from Tucker.

“I can’t do that to her, Tucker.”

He arched a brow. “Not even if she wants it?”

Josh blinked. “Why the hell would you say she wants it? She doesn’t know anything about what we were to each other all those years ago.”

“No, but my gut says she’d be more receptive than you give her credit for.” Tucker sidled up to him once more.

For a throbbing second, Josh wanted nothing more than to grab the cowboy and thrust his tongue into his mouth.

But Dixie came first.

Before he could act on his temporary insanity, he strode across the pen, grabbed the reins and led his horse out of the pen, leaving Tucker alone.

* * * * *

“Fuck.” Tucker’s heated curse slipped out under his breath. He shoved his hat low as he watched Josh leave the pen with the horse in tow. The need to call after him burned hot, but he clamped his lips shut.

He couldn’t pressure Josh into taking him as a lover again. Josh was right about Dixie—neither of them could hurt her. Still, he was pretty damn sure she’d be open to something a little more. Last night she’d been like a child at a county fair, eyes huge as she gaped between him and Josh.

Her nipples had been ripe cherries beneath her tank top too.

He scuffed a boot into the dirt. It would be best for everyone if he just silently left the ranch and stayed out of their lives. Fact was, he had nowhere to go. He’d worn out his welcome with friends quickly, and family was scarce on the ground. But Josh and he had been closer than friends and enough like family that he’d believed this to be a perfect arrangement.

After getting the cow back to pasture, he dug into the barn work. Josh was nowhere to be found. Damn, he’d fucked up by pressuring him. The need to have someone important in his life had driven his actions, but he needed to control himself better.

The sound of boots on the wooden floors made him lift his head, and he set eyes on a pretty little woman who made his heart pound faster. Hell, he’d been all over the US, and not many women measured up to Dixie in his mind.

Besides beautiful, she possessed a feminine air that had drawn him from the beginning. Add a sassy mouth and amazing skills in bed, and she was damn perfect.

He gave her a nod when her gaze lit on him. Something passed over her features. Weariness? Worry?

His stomach hurt to think she felt that way about him.

“I’ll have breakfast on in a few minutes. I was just getting some chicken feed. The rooster’s been crowing nonstop for hours.”

“I heard it,” Tucker said, digging the pitchfork into the hay pile again. He tossed a mound into the corner of a stall for the horse to snack on.

Dixie crossed the barn to lean on the stall door where he was working. Having her so close and her dark eyes on him set off a five-alarm lust in him. He could blame his needs on too many available buckle bunnies on the rodeo circuit, but that wasn’t true. He’d had his share, but now he wanted more.

If he were honest, he wanted it with both Dixie and Josh.

Double torture. How long he could live under these conditions was a three-story-tall question mark in his head.

He glanced over to see Dixie twirling her long, dark hair around her finger. The habit had lured him way back when. Now, he wanted to bundle her hair back in his fist and fuck her until she woke the rooster with her screams.

Pushing out a breath, he eyed her. “Are you coming to tell me to take the first taxi out of town?”

Surprise crossed her face. “No…” Her voice was soft. “Why would I say that? We need the help. Are you telling me you’re ready to go?”

“No.” He dropped the pitchfork and clenched his fists to keep from pasting them to her curves. “I like it here. It’s real quiet and I feel I have some use in life. Also, I’ve got some good friends here. At least I think I do.”

She nodded right away. “Of course. Why would you believe otherwise?”

“Josh and I have had a few tense moments.”

“I know you guys had a go-round that first night.”

“Yeah, we settled it. In the past now.”

She eyed him. “That’s good to hear. He’s been so exhausted, working the ranch with only me for help for a whole year. He’s so tired he usually falls into bed and doesn’t move all night.”

Tucker lifted a brow, and she blushed to the roots of her hair. Seeing Dixie flushed sent a spike of need straight to his groin.

“I mean…” She faltered.

“No need to explain yourself. I’m just the ranch hand.” To prove his point, he picked up the pitchfork again.

“You’re a lot more than that, Tucker. I hope you know how much you’re appreciated around here already.”

He looked at her more closely, seeing fatigue around her eyes. Maybe last night Josh hadn’t fallen straight to sleep and Tucker hadn’t imagined their bed bouncing. His cock lengthened.

“Well, I’d best get breakfast. Josh will be in soon. Give me ten minutes to fry some eggs, okay?”

“Will do.” He went back to pitching hay so he didn’t stomp across the barn, grab her and kiss her high cheekbones, her upturned nose and her full pink lips.

After she left the barn, there was no amount of hay he could pitch to burn off his need. Working closely with both of his ex-lovers was going to kill him.

When he went into the house and saw Josh and Dixie wrapped in each other’s arms, he stopped in his tracks. Being a voyeur had never been his thing, but what he wouldn’t give to see them doing more than hugging.

He sank to his chair before either could spot the growing bulge in his jeans. The couple parted with a smile, and Josh sat across from Tucker. Their gazes locked, and their earlier strife was a scratch that quickly healed. Tucker accepted the platter of fried eggs from his friend, and their fingers brushed.

Staying would be hard as hell, but he didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t bear to leave now.

Chapter Four

As soon as the screen door banged shut and both hunky cowboys left her kitchen, she released a long sigh of frustration. Living with so much testosterone and not getting enough relief was wearing on her.

Even their soap-and-water scents lingered, giving her another rush of want. How was she going to keep going this way?

To make things worse she suspected Josh might know about her past with Tucker. Something he’d said last night had been on replay in her mind most of the night.
You’re sure you’re good with Tucker being here? Because if he makes you uncomfortable, I can send him off with bonus pay.

She’d rolled onto one hip to look into her husband’s face. His eyes were just cooling from the passion they’d shared—passion she wanted more of. But she didn’t see any indication on his features that he knew she’d had a summertime fling with Tucker.

Opening her mouth to say it now, she hesitated. The words stuck in her throat. It wasn’t a secret—wasn’t even a big deal. They’d been eighteen. But telling him now would most likely send Tucker on his way for good, and she could see he wanted—needed—the work. And he wanted a place to belong. But his presence made her feel so guilty she’d thought about baking dozens of chocolate chip cookies.

She’d closed her mouth and flipped onto her back to stare up at the ceiling fan slowly revolving.

The noise of boots on the floor made her glance up. Her lips spread in an involuntary smile at the sight of her husband clomping back inside. Just having him near her made her body stand up and sing. No, belt out a long note that vibrated through her core.

“Forgot my pocketknife on the nightstand,” he said gruffly, heading for the bedroom.

She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his middle. Burrowing her nose against his shirt, she inhaled. “How about I join you in the bedroom?” She stroked a hand down his chest and hooked her fingers in his waistband as she met his gaze.

His eyes were on her but his mind far away. “Sorry, Dixie darlin’. I’ve got someone coming any minute to buy hay.”

Her smile faded into a pout but she immediately tucked her lips together. She hated acting like a neglected child but dammit, she felt like one. She stepped back.

Alerted to the change in her, Josh said, “Baby, you know I’d have you morning, noon and night if I could. Hell, I’d have you every three hours. But I’ve got work to do.”

“That’s why Tucker’s here. Let him deal with the hay and we’ll do some rolling in it.” She gripped his shirt front and swung onto tiptoe, lips angled for his kiss. But he only gave her a brush of a peck.

She let him go and folded her arms. “The man I fell in love with would have dropped everything to go to bed with me.”

“Darlin’, don’t say these things. You know I want you.”

“Doesn’t feel that way. We’re practically newlyweds, Josh. I’m not ready for scheduled sex on Saturday nights. I want to be picked up and carried to the bedroom.”

“I can’t leave Tucker to make this sale and load all that hay by himself.”

She ducked her head to catch his gaze. “What aren’t you telling me about Tucker?”

Startled, his eyes widened. “What?”

“When you talk about Tucker, there’s something in your voice. Some tension. It makes me think you had a falling out years ago, and it wasn’t settled when he turned up for the ranch hand position.”

At that moment, the rumble of an engine coming up the driveway stopped their conversation for good. He squeezed her waist and gave her a hasty kiss. His mouth landed beside hers, and then he was striding back outside, pocketknife forgotten.

His wife forgotten.

Male voices in the yard drew her to the door. She watched her husband greet the newcomer with his normal easygoing manner. Obviously her unhappiness wasn’t weighing on him.

Tucker shook the man’s hand too. And glanced up at the house. When he saw Dixie watching, he gave her a crooked grin and a tip of his hat. She pushed out a sigh and raised a hand in a simple wave. Then she returned to her kitchen chores.

Somehow she had to get it through her head that her ideas about being married to Josh weren’t reality. But the loss of those hopes were crushing.

* * * * *

After the truck trundled back down the driveway loaded with hay, Tucker stepped up beside Josh, shading his eyes with his hand as he watched it go. “What’s wrong with Dixie?” he asked.

Josh turned sharply. “Whattaya mean?” He started for the barn, his wife’s discontent surging to the surface.

“She looks mighty unhappy. You guys have a fight?” Tucker kept pace with him, even though Josh lengthened his steps. He didn’t want to have this conversation with Tucker.

“Not exactly a fight.” The response came out against his wishes. What was it about his friend that loosened him so completely? With Tucker, he’d never been able to hold back.

“So what was it if not a fight?” Tucker grabbed a bridle off a peg on the barn wall and went to a stall. When he rattled the bar holding the door shut, the horse tossed its head and nosed the wood, eager to get to the sugar lumps Tucker always carried.

Josh grabbed his own tack and quickly started saddling his horse. “I don’t need to explain to you what we were talking about.”

“I don’t think you know yourself,” came Tucker’s reply.

When Josh gave him a glare, Tucker wasn’t even paying attention. He walked his horse out of the stall and reached for a saddle. Somehow his nonchalance wore Josh down.

“She’s upset that I wouldn’t take her to bed.” He sounded grumpy even to his own ears.

Tucker stopped. “You meant to tell me you turned down that beautiful woman who just oozes sex appeal?”

Fuck. He had.

“The guy turned up for the hay.”

“So? I could have loaded the hay.”

“But I’d made the transaction. I don’t feel right about ignoring business for pleasure.”

“Buddy, your wife’s pleasure
is
your business.”

Josh paused in brushing his horse’s coat before placing the blanket and saddle on. “If she had her way, I’d be in bed with her all day. I’ve can’t neglect the animals.”

“That’s true.”

“I hear that tone in your voice. Don’t think that I’m neglecting Dixie instead. I gave her two orgasms last night.”

Tucker dipped his head, casting his eyes in the shadow of his hat.

Josh went on, “Seems the more she gets the more she wants, though.”

“So you can’t keep up?”

He rounded on his friend. “Dammit, I didn’t say that. What she wants is fun sex. She wants me to fuck her on the front porch at noon and in the barn after dinner. She wants to go skinnydippin’ at night and then fall into bed for more.”

“So she’s insatiable. Either that or she needs something you’re not providing.” Tucker’s drawl edged under his skin like straw beneath fingernails.

“What the hell would you suggest? You don’t know anything about my wife.”

Tucker dipped his head once more. Quietly, he said, “I know you’re pretty damn good with rope. Does your wife?”

Josh’s cock hardened like steel. Across the barn he gazed at Tucker, hungry to tie up his old lover and give him a good pounding, his hand wrapped around Tucker’s cock. To explode inside his body and feel Tucker’s orgasm straining his muscles right before hot come spurted over Josh’s fingers.

“She doesn’t know about the rope. Or you.”

“You shouldn’t be keeping things from her. Give her some credit, Josh.”

They returned to their tasks. Tucker had his horse saddled first and rode out across the field, his shoulders rigid. Josh watched him go for a minute before swinging into the saddle too.

Maybe Tucker was right—Dixie needed to see the man in him who’d given Tucker his body without restraint. Who’d rodeo’d hard and loved harder. She deserved that same wild passion. After all, Tucker continued to raise that animalistic need in him several times a day. It wasn’t totally lost and buried beneath ranch work.

He dug his heels into his horse’s sides and took off after Tucker. With a look at the house, he made up his mind. Tonight he’d find a nice length of rope.

* * * * *

They were at it again. Maybe Tucker couldn’t really feel the Thorpes’ bed rocking, but he was damn sure he’d roused the old Josh. That man wouldn’t leave his wife hanging. Or rather, he’d suspend her from the nearest bedframe with rope.

Moonlight streamed through the single window and turned his room to blue ice. But Tucker lay on a bed of coals. The fever inside him wouldn’t be doused by jacking off. He’d already done that. He wanted to be in bed with his ex-lovers.

Yes, both of them. The minute he’d stepped onto the ranch, he’d felt different. He’d gone in search of a new start and hard, honest work, and he’d found himself longing for so much more with a man who’d rocked his world and a little gal whose sweetness made his fillings ache.

When he swung his legs out of bed, he didn’t stop to think of what he was doing.

When he eased on his worn jeans and nothing else, his brain caught up to the one in his pants. He was going to find Josh and Dixie.

When he went to the house and found the screen door open, he took it as a sign.

Soft noises drew him down the hall to the cracked bedroom door. Through the slit he glimpsed flesh—tanned against golden. Without thinking, he pushed the door open farther.

His cock bulged against his fly painfully as he set eyes on Dixie spread eagle on the king-sized mattress, tied at the wrists and ankles. Josh’s back was to him, and Tucker’s stomach burned with want. He knew that pose. Josh loved to survey his handiwork—to stand back and see the desire burning on his lover’s face.

Dixie had enough of that to start a forest fire. Her cheeks were pink, her lips swollen. From biting, kissing or sucking Josh’s cock. All of the above maybe.

Tucker darted his attention to the naked man at the foot of the bed, gazing at his wife. His back muscles rippled with an invisible shiver he didn’t display. As he turned to the side, his cock jutted, thick and stiff.

Unable to help himself, Tucker ran his palm over his own distended cock.

“The way you’re looking at me, darlin’, I’m not gonna last long.”

“I don’t care. I need your cock. Now.”

“What a demanding little slut you are.” His crooning tone was low but sent spikes of gut-clenching need through Tucker.

“You’ve kept me waiting. I need fucked.” Dixie wiggled her wrists, and the bedframe trembled.

“I need to get a grip on my control. If I fuck you, it will be over in two minutes, and I know you need so much more.”

Her chest rose in fell in heavy pants. “Then give me more.” She raised her hips off the bed, pushing her pink, wet pussy upward.

Tucker bit off a groan and wet his lips. Too well he remembered her flavors coating his tongue. God, how he’d hungered for her since coming to the ranch. Add the taste of Josh’s warm, salty skin and he was out of his head.

Unbridled need coursed through him. He pushed open the door all the way. The small creak of his step made Josh spin and Dixie jerk against her bonds.

He raked his gaze over one then the other, awareness building as he realized they hadn’t immediately throw him out of the house.

“What are you doing here?” Josh’s gritty tone raised Tucker’s fever five degrees.

“I’m here to take care of you both. I know what you need.” Without hesitation he stepped up to Josh, hooked his hand around his nape and claimed his mouth.

The hard clash of lips ignited. Josh grunted, and then their tongues were tangled, heads angled as they drank from each other. Dixie’s quiet mewl spoke of her approval, which sent Tucker spinning.

He crushed Josh’s mouth under his, demanding and taking. Showing both of them how good this arrangement could really be.

When Dixie moved restlessly, Tucker tore from the kiss. Josh breathed hard, and worry etched on his rugged features as if he hadn’t meant to respond to Tucker’s kiss. But he had—in front of his wife.

They turned to her. She was flushed, her nipples tight peaks and her pussy glistening with arousal.

“Better tell her,” Tucker grated out.
Before I do bad things to both of you.

“Tell me,” Dixie breathed.

Josh reached out and encircled her curvy calf muscle with his long fingers. Without missing a beat, he said, “Tucker and I were lovers back in our rodeo days.”

She sucked in a breath, and the bed seemed to quiver from her reaction. She was shaking—on fire with her newfound knowledge. Tucker didn’t know her as well as Josh probably did, but he’d seen her in the throes of ecstasy, and this was very, very close.

“Your woman needs to come.” Tucker’s voice was gravel under a boot heel.

Josh nodded. “Dixie darlin’, will you have us both in your bed?”

Her gaze darted to Tucker’s and held. When she spoke, she never looked away. “I already have. Tucker and I were lovers the summer after high school.”

They both looked at Josh for his reaction. He blinked twice, then a slow smile cut across his hard lips. He shook his head. “I should have guessed. I saw the way you two looked at each other.”