Saint James, Elle - Unbridled and Unbranded [The Double Rider Men's Club 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (12 page)

“Well, there is that. But I’d like to think we’re helping something greater than ourselves.” Bo’s woefully sincere expression was then broken when he waggled his eyebrows up and down.

“You’re funny. I forgot that about you, Bo.”

“And you’re as sexy as hell. I did not ever forget that about you, Cal.”

“Nice offer, but I should probably go back to my ranch tonight.”

“Why?” Bo moved closer. “What are you going to do there?”

“Sleep in my bed. Get up early to go out with Kenny to fix the fence.”

“Stay with us, tonight.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Shit, I’m not even allowed to tempt you? I don’t remember agreeing to that.” Bo leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Rafe sat down on the bed beside her. “I don’t want to anger you, but would you consider letting Clay check over your property? He could find vulnerabilities or help patrol so Kincaid will be less apt to fuck with you.”

“I can’t afford protection of that nature.”

“I don’t think Clay would charge you. He’s got a vested interested in keeping the land near the DRMC property safe.”

“Good try. But I’m not taking any more handouts.”

“Don’t look at it that way. Clay is your friend. Otherwise he wouldn’t have called me to get Delbert for you.”

“I already owe so much for that.”

“I wish you wouldn’t worry about it.”

“I do have my pride, you know.”

Rafe pushed out a sigh. “I know. I get it. I’m sorry. I’ll shut up now.”

Bo took her hand. “It’s not about pride, Cal. I don’t want you getting hurt. We may not make our relationship permanent, but it doesn’t mean you aren’t important to us. I agree with Rafe. Pride or not, at least let Clay do a walkthrough of your property. He may have really good ideas for shoring up your security that won’t cost anything at all.”

Bo was calling Clay regardless of whether she agreed or not, but he hoped she would.

“Fine. I’d appreciate an assessment.”

“Clay likes you. I can tell. He’d do the same thing for us as a friend. He’ll do it for you, no problem.”

“All I can afford to give him is a thank-you anyway.”

“Stay with us tonight and we’ll let you sleep. We won’t even demand sex.”

Rafe frowned. “We won’t? Are you sure?”

Callie smiled. “What if I want more?”

“Then we’ll give it to you,” Bo chimed in quickly. “But you could just rest between us safe and sound for the night. We’ll get you up early.”

“Okay.” Bo helped her undress again. They got beneath the sheets and they each got in bed with her. Rafe on her left and Bo on her right.

Bo faced her, hand on her belly, and smiled. It would be so fucking hard to give her up. He’d probably never even enter this room without picturing her here. He was a fool to let his heart get so entangled with her. Bo glanced at Rafe and knew his friend suffered from the same affliction.

They both were falling hopelessly in love with Callie. Bo needed to come up with a backup plan to keep her firmly planted in their future. He just wished he had the first idea of what that plan might be.

* * * *

A week after the fence stunt with Drew Kincaid, where she sent Kenny out to check the next morning and found nothing, Callie got a special debriefing from Clay regarding her land.

He’d volunteered to come and check out her property lines after Bo and Rafe had insisted.

Clay told her he was glad to do it. And she could even call him herself in the future.

In his debriefing, he told her that she was in pretty good shape, and he offered to come and recheck things for her until Kincaid backed off.

“What makes you think he’ll back off?”

Clay shrugged. “I don’t think he will, but if he screws around with your fence again, I could put alarms on it. I could even put a few cameras up.”

“How much?”

“Nothing. I have the equipment already.” Clay had a look on his face like a kid the day after the best Christmas he’d ever had. It was filled with so much anticipation the only question was which toy would he play with first. But even so, she didn’t want him to work for free.

“I’d have to pay you something.”

He nodded. “Okay. But I’ll think of something later on. Something I know you’re good at.”

Callie figured he’d want her to invite him over for dinner. She could produce a meal, but it wasn’t exactly her strongest skill.

She didn’t dwell too much on the fact that the first flash in her mind regarding something she could do for him was something sexual. Maybe he could watch her with Bo and Rafe. Likely that would happen anyway one day. Maybe she could express interest in a private show for Clay.

Was she good at having sex for a public audience? Should she perhaps test her theory first? Callie mentally shook her head at the direction of her thoughts. Having two men in her life was more than she’d ever expected to have. Adding a third for a future special evening, while intriguing, was so far out of her daily life, it was a wonder she recognized it anymore. Had she become wanton? Perhaps, but she liked it.

“Fine,” Callie remarked quietly. “We’ll discuss payment later on.”

“Good.” His gaze ran the length of her body and returned to her hair and paused. He looked at her hair often, she’d noticed. “I’ll get started right away. Anything you’d rather not see on your property?”

“Nope. Do whatever you’d like.”

“Truthfully, I have all this new equipment that I haven’t had a chance to test out. You’d be doing me a favor letting me set up and test the capabilities.”

“Oh, sure. I’m doing
you
a favor,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Sometimes a man has to find a way to play with his toys. This
is
a huge favor to me. It’s just not the same when I place them all over the DRMC land. Nothing exciting ever happens over there. The star of my videos thus far has been the guy who refills the propane tank every three months. Now
there’s
some big excitement.” The blatant sarcasm in his tone was hard to miss.

She smiled. “Well, then I’m glad I can help. I just want Kincaid off my property. He didn’t take the fence down, he just wanted me to fret about it and race out here.”

Clay tilted his head up at the azure blue Colorado sky. “Perhaps he knew you were at Bo and Rafe’s place and wanted to interrupt your evening.”

Callie squinted. “Do you think so?”

“It’s possible. Someone
did
follow you home from there the first time we went out to talk to them.”

“That day you followed me home from town?”

“Yep. The truck that followed behind us went on to Kincaid’s place.”

Callie closed her eyes and cursed a blue streak in her mind. That son of a bitch had been on her tail for months. What did he hope to accomplish? She wasn’t going to sell him her property. Even if she had to keep it forever and be a rancher until the end of eternity. The creative place in her soul cried out in disappointment.

Callie hadn’t been to her secret room to paint or sculpt or even play and shape mounds clay slapped on her pottery wheel in far too long. She’d gotten sidetracked with luscious cowboys from her past who engaged her on a completely different satisfying level.

Clay wrote a few things down in a small spiral notebook as he walked along the southern perimeter of her land.

When he was finished they hopped back in the old, beaten-up, rusty Jeep she used to ride around and check her property lines.

“Sure you don’t want me to let you know the details of what I put out here?”

“Nope,” Callie shifted into the next gear and climbed a small hill on a barely-there road cut through her property. “I’ll let you do as much or as little as you want. But don’t go overboard. My goal is to ensure Kincaid stays off my property.”

“Or that you have proof that he’s been screwing with you?”

“Also a good thing if you can make that happen.”

Callie watched him out of the corner of her eye. Clay was her very good friend. He’d come through for her in a big way with helping to find her an inseminator and additionally in hooking up with Bo and Rafe. She could easily say she loved Clay. But not quite in the same way she loved Bo and Rafe. She wouldn’t be opposed to a sexual liaison with Clay, but sensed that he wasn’t in the market for a sexual partner.

A few years ago she’d overheard that he once had a wife, but that she’d died. He presented himself as a man who’d loved and lost and wasn’t particularly looking for love again.

Perhaps she could offer him a one-time good deal. The idea of Clay watching her have sex with Bo and Rafe lit a lazy, hungry fire in her belly. A fire that might only be quenched with a special evening together.

Even as she considered how she might broach the subject with Bo and Rafe, the mere suggestion that she was becoming all too familiar with the idea of always being with the two of them dismayed her. She shouldn’t be thinking of such permanent thoughts.

The first chance she got to sell her place, she’d be gone overseas, delving into the passions of her craft so fast her shiny new passport would spin.

Clay didn’t attempt to keep up any kind of conversation with her. He was a man of few words. She liked that about him. Especially now when her thoughts wandered so far afield into areas she couldn’t believe she had a curiosity about.

She drove them back to her homestead coming to the back of the house first. When she pulled her Jeep around to the front, she saw that Landon was just arriving.

What did he want? She hoped she wasn’t about to receive any more bad news.

She said good-bye to Clay and headed over to Landon.

“I’m afraid to ask,” she said the moment he stepped out of his car.

He ducked back into the driver’s door and brought out his briefcase. “I don’t
always
bring bad news.”

She shrugged. That was debatable. “What good news do you have then?”

Landon balanced the well-worn leather case on the hood of his car. “I may have found a way to keep you from having to pay your taxes next week.”

“So I wouldn’t ever have to pay them or it’s just a delay tactic.”

“Well, yes, it’s a delay tactic, but given that you don’t have the money right now, it will keep the penalty from being excessive. I think that’s good news.” Landon retrieved a thick stapled packet of paper. He closed his case and snapped it shut.

He handed her the papers.

“What are these?”

“Basically, they are hardship application papers.”

“What hardship?”

Landon sighed. “Callie, the situation here on your ranch is the textbook case for hardship. It might even qualify for extreme destitution. You just lost key members of your staff and you’ve used your money to further your business. It isn’t like you don’t have your tax money because you blew it during a wild weekend of debauchery in Las Vegas.”

She closed her eyes, took a calming breath, and counted to five silently before speaking. “Wild Las Vegas weekends of debauchery aside, I don’t like the idea of applying for charity.”

“It isn’t charity, Callie. It’s a way for you to not be arrested for tax evasion.”