Chapter Five
Zoey spent Sunday making herself at home on the Triple T. The house was comfortable, and the kitchen well stocked with every utensil imaginable. She had even found a second freezer full of meat in the laundry room, but there was barely a scrap to be found in the cupboards.
She was making a list of groceries she needed to get, when Dalton came in from outside. His cheeks were flushed red and his blonde hair was windblown. Wearing snug wranglers and borrowed boots, he had slipped back into the Texas cowboy role with ease, and her libido took notice.
“Whew! Fall is on the air today I think,” he said as he ran his long fingers through his shaggy locks. “Smells good in here, what are you making?”
“Cinnamon bread to go with the chili for dinner tonight. Is it cold outside?” Zoey tapped the pen against her lips before realizing his eyes were zeroed in on the phallic item against her mouth. She frowned and dropped the pen to her lap.
“No it’s not cold, but the wind is strong today. Whatcha doing?” He plopped down next to her, snatching the paper from her lap and throwing one arm behind her across the back of the sofa.
“Hey! I’m making a grocery list. Tanner apparently only eats meat, so there is barely anything in the kitchen to cook with. I found the cinnamon all the way in the back of the top cabinet and it had never even been opened.” She tugged the list out of his hands, and smoothed it out before applying her pen to it again. “Is there anything you can think of that I should add to the list? Anything you need?”
Dalton brushed a piece of her long hair back over her ear with a small smile on his face. “At this moment, nothing I need or want can go on that list.”
Zoey’s stomach clenched her panties grew damp at the subtle hint. He was way too close for comfort with his big body pressing against her side. The blended scent of man and the outdoors filled her nose, making her mouth water. Her hand was shaking a little as she capped the pen and started to stand.
Dalton grabbed the belt loop on the back of her jeans, surprising her and throwing her off balance so she tumbled down on to his lap. “Whoa!”
“Easy now, I just didn’t want you to run away from me. You act like you’re scared of me, Zoey love, and I would hate for you to be scared of me.” He looked down at her with a pair of the sexiest blue bedroom eyes Zoey had ever seen and she shivered.
“I’m not scared of you, but this is inappropriate.”
He looked taken aback, and his eyebrow lifted in question, “Why? You’re a gorgeous woman and I’m a lonely man. We’re both single, so what’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is that Zoey is here under my roof and my protection. So you will not be hitting on her or making her uncomfortable, Dalton Keegan.” Tanner’s voice was hard and cold, and Zoey let out a small ‘eep’ of surprise before scrambling off Dalton’s lap and across the room so she stood an equal distance from the two men.
Tanner filled the doorway to the living room, tapping his heavy leather gloves against his thigh in irritation. His jaw was clenched and the dark look on his face was currently directed at Dalton. She had seen that look before.
One day four years ago at Robin’s bar. She was out with Rachel, and a couple of other friends from college celebrating the end of midterms when she spotted his large body slouched at the bar downing a beer. In her slightly inebriated state she felt sexy and strong and she took it upon herself to offer him a night of pleasure.
To her horror and shame, he turned her down flat, barely even looking at her as he broke her heart and bruised her pride. She had been mortified and from that moment she swore she would never offer herself to another man, much less Tanner Keegan. And yet here she was, sitting in his brother’s lap, considering letting Dalton seduce her clothes off and show her what a good time he could give her.
Tanner’s interruption was the splash of ice water on her face she needed to regain her composure. “Its fine, Tanner, he was just playing around.”
“No I wasn’t, but I didn’t realize that big brother had staked a claim on you already. My apologies,” Dalton said with a nod in Tanner’s direction. When Tanner nodded in acceptance, Zoey got pissed.
“What? Staked a claim on me? You two have got to be fu-cking kidding me! Neither of you has any right to stake a claim on me. I’m my own person.” She stomped over to Tanner and shoved her index finger into the center of his wide chest. “You! You turned me down, not the other way around, buster, so don’t even think you stand a chance of staking a claim on this piece of ass.” Tanner’s eyes widened but his dark look didn’t change at all. Spinning around, she pointed at Dalton who threw both hands up in the air, “And you! I haven’t seen you in a decade, so don’t you dare start throwing out sexy words and flirting. I don’t give a crap how lonely you are, you can go back to Africa and fu-ck a rhino because neither of you are going to seduce me or claim me anytime soon. Got it?”
Her breath was coming in pants as adrenaline rushed through her veins. Who the hell did these two think they were? She wasn’t living here to be a temporary lay for a couple of cowboys. In fact, if that’s how this was going to play out, she was going to get her stuff and head for her car. She would rather sleep in the backseat for a year than be taken advantage of.
The silence in the room was suffocating, but slowly the tension slipped away with her anger. When she felt a little more in control, she threw her shoulders back and lifted her chin in challenge. Dalton’s grin skittered over her nerves, but she didn’t snap.
“We got it, Zoey. You aren’t interested. Now, we’re all going to forget this ever happened and go back to whatever we were doing,” Tanner said quietly from behind her. A tingling sensation coursed down her spine at his low and slow cowboy drawl.
“Thank you,” she said, letting her head drop slightly. “I am going to run into town to the Mercantile for groceries. Is there anything you want to add to the list?”
“I’ll drive. I need to stop by Brooks Pastures to pick up the saddle Mack was fixing for me, and get some fertilizer from The Garden Hut.” Tanner turned to look at Dalton pointedly.
“I think I’ll just head back out to the west pasture. Maybe check the lines. It feels awfully good to be in a saddle again.” He gave Zoey a playful wink and she knew that the subject of her seduction wasn’t done yet. She watched as he went back out the front door, letting the screen slam behind him.
“I’m sorry for that, Zoey, if I had known that he would try to…” Tanner stopped and Zoey jerked her gaze back to him.
“Try to what? Seduce me? Do you honestly think that I’m that easy, Tanner? Just because I flirted with you one drunk night at Robin’s? Well, I’m not. I’ve had plenty of experience fending off lonely cowboys trying to get into my bed. I can handle Dalton.”
The timer on the stove buzzed and she hurried into the kitchen to pull the bread from the oven. The scent of cinnamon and sugar perfumed the air, and she sighed with pleasure at the golden brown loaf as she put it on the counter.
“You made bread?” Tanner sounded so surprised that she laughed.
“Yes, and chili too. I’m going to grab my purse, and shoes. I want to get back here in time to sneak in an afternoon nap before dinner.” Without letting him respond, she headed down the hallway toward her room. There was no way she would ever be able to admit how much of a lie her rant was. She wanted both Keegan cowboys, and the idea of one of them staking a claim on her made her pu-ssy wet and her tits swell.
She knew that it was wrong, but an idea tickled the back of her brain all the same. Dalton lived in the apartment over the garage, which meant that if she made her way into his bed one night, there was no way Tanner would ever know. For a brief moment she considered the same could be said in reverse if she found herself in Tanner’s bed, but she nixed that idea quickly. Tanner wasn’t interested. He had made that clear. If she wanted to ride a Keegan cowboy, it would have to be Dalton.