Authors: Em Petrova
Lasso My Heart (8 page)
“Done here. I’m going to start the tractor.” Tucker’s declaration sliced through Josh. He looked up, discontent in his heart but with no words to voice it. He sighed and nodded.
Tucker didn’t wait around for Josh’s response—he walked out of the barn. Leaving Josh alone with his fantasies of the future, now scattered like hay in the wind.
* * * * *
Daydreams were worthless ways to pass the time and only made him unbearably hot. Sweat rolled out from under Tucker’s hat brim and zigzagged down his neck. As soon as the sun came up, it was hot as hell. Which made him want a tall, cool drink. But that meant going into the kitchen and seeing the delectable woman who haunted him.
When he’d seen Josh leaning over his wife in bed, he couldn’t have felt more out of his realm. He didn’t belong there between them. Last night had been a wildfire of hormones and lust raging out of control.
But this was a new day. Tucker was a ranch worker and nothing more. He just didn’t know how he was going to face mealtimes with them. He could barely look at either lover and not feel a hook jerked in his heart.
He pushed out a sigh and slapped a fly on his nape. Beautiful land stretched before him. Someday he’d want a spread just like this. Cozy house, wide front porch made for sitting and sipping sweet tea. Lots of grazing land and space for planting, which Josh hadn’t done. Maybe he should suggest he put in some corn.
Swatting another fly, he tried to control his galloping thoughts. His boss wouldn’t welcome his views on expanding the ranch. He was here for the grunt work—to take up some burden so Josh had more time to go inside and plow his wife’s field.
A lump rose in his throat. Whatever Dixie wanted, he’d never find out. He had no intention of saying more than please and thank you to her. As soon as he raised enough cash, he’d go searching for another rancher to work for. He’d been drifting for so long with the rodeo, the idea had merit. Who wanted to settle anyway?
With a slipshod plan in mind, he spurred his horse into a trot. The cutting horse was doing well from Josh’s training, but it still lagged. A little late getting out of the gate when directed.
A long whistle made him raise his head to see Josh breaking across this field directly for him. His heart surged, and that knot in his throat bulged painfully. He fucking loved the idiot. Josh had never been one to discuss feelings, and for a time it had been enough.
Not anymore.
Visions of Dixie’s soft, expressive gaze made him swallow hard. At one time they’d shared all the fun and none of the emotions. But now…he swore what he’d seen in her eyes last night was real, heart-lurching love.
He groaned inwardly as Josh rode up beside him and slowed. He was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling. More than it should just from a simple ride.
“Everything okay at the house?” Tucker asked. He wrapped the reins around his fist, prepared to ride full-tilt to Dixie if she was in trouble.
“Fine.” Josh gave him an odd look but didn’t say more.
“What’d you need?”
“Thought I’d catch up to you and we’d check some fence. Dixie just got a call that one of our cows was found on the neighboring ranch. Figured I’d better make sure no more were headed that way before I go bring it back.”
“Sure. Let’s go.”
For several hours they worked in near silence, communicating with the bare minimum of words and grunts. Far from what Tucker wanted or needed. Not that the problem was Josh’s. Tucker needed to control his own affairs of the heart and stuff them down until the time when he could move on from the Thorpes.
But it wouldn’t be easy.
By the time they’d repaired the broken fence and retrieved the escaped cow, he was ready to work off the adrenaline pumping through his system. The need to run fast, to jump the fence and escape burned hot.
Then he rode into the yard and saw Dixie.
His heart turned over. She stood on the porch, hair blowing loose in the hot breeze. Her fitted jeans and tank top showed all those curves that had made him go crazy in the first place.
Some strain around her eyes was evident as he dismounted and led the horse into the barn to rub it down. Josh did the same. When Dixie walked into the barn, all the hair on Tucker’s forearms stood up.
He kept his head down, avoiding looking directly into her bewitching eyes. One look and he’d grab her and kiss the hell out of her.
The sound of the big door rolling shut jerked him from his protective cave of self-control. He glanced up at the same time Josh did. The three of them stared at each other.
“What’s going on here?” Dixie had closed the door for a reason—to trap them all inside together. She settled her hands on her luscious hips. Last night he’d gripped those hips while plunging into her with wild abandon.
His stomach dropped.
When neither of them answered her, she narrowed her gaze. “You guys are tiptoeing around each other like kids who got caught kissing. And neither of you thought I needed to wake up to more than an empty bed this morning?”
“Darlin’, you were so pretty sleeping there, I couldn’t bear to even kiss you before I left the house.” Josh spread his big hand toward her.
“Ordinarily that wouldn’t bother me. I hate waking up early. But last night wasn’t ordinary. For any of us. I can see the two of you aren’t handling the aftereffects either.”
Tucker chanced a look at Josh. As their gazes clashed, he felt a vibration as if someone had struck a gong.
“You’re right, Dixie,” he heard himself say quietly.
Her mouth softened. “Have you guys talked about what happened last night at all?”
They shook their heads, and she released an irritated sigh. “Men.”
That drew a smile to Josh’s face, and Tucker snorted. A little of the tension flowed from the barn.
Since Dixie seemed to be taking charge, Tucker leaned against a support post and waited. Josh watched his wife with total absorption.
“You guys were in a relationship before. How did you handle things then?” she asked.
Josh cleared his throat. “We never felt any need to talk about it. We just went with it.”
“Okay, I know your stance on this, but what about you, Tucker?” When she turned those dark eyes on him, he was helpless against her power.
He scuffed a boot on the floor. “I wish we’d talked a little. It was hard when Josh left the rodeo.”
Josh made a small noise in his throat, and Tucker riveted his attention on him, hardly able to breathe. “I’m sorry for that, Tucker.”
“It’s in the past.”
“But the past is surfacing again. If we’re going to make this work, we need to be open and communicating.” Dixie ran her fingers through her hair near her temple. The silky waves fluttered around her shoulder.
It was time for Tucker to lay down his cards. “I guess I need to say I don’t have intentions of sticking around to make this work.”
Dixie and Josh fell still. Even the horses seemed to go silent. Husband and wife exchanged a look Tucker felt deep in the marrow of his bones. Something about that look wrenched his heart. If he’d damaged the married couple’s relationship with his hasty, lust-filled actions—
As Dixie met Tucker’s stare, his heart turned over painfully. He could barely speak the words. “I’m sorry for my actions last night.”
Dixie gave a low cry. “You regret it?”
“Don’t you two?” He looked between them.
Dixie stepped within grabbing distance. And Josh came to stand beside her. “Tucker, it was one of the best nights of my life. When I woke up this morning believing I’d have both of you here with me, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. But then I saw how you two were acting around each other, dancing around the things neither of you stubborn asses will say, I couldn’t bear it.”
When she called them stubborn asses, he and Josh’s gazes collided. His lover’s lips twitched. “We might be a little stubborn.”
“A little? The mule out in the yard is more easygoing than you two. So you never talked about your relationship before. But you’re talking about it now. And you’re committing one way or the other.”
The word “commit” rang through the big space, reverberating in Tucker’s entire body. He met his lover’s gaze and swallowed hard. Could he push out the words? What did he have to lose?
“I was in love with you, Josh.”
Josh’s eyelids fluttered, and he stretched a hand to grasp Tucker’s shoulder. They swayed toward each other.
“I’m still in love with you.” Tucker clutched at his nape, dragging him down for a hard meeting of mouths. For several heartbeats he ingested everything this could mean in his life. Someone to care about who cared about him in return. Two people. And a home. A place to build a life and find joy.
Dixie pressed against him, and they broke apart to wrap her into their embrace. “I hope there’s room for me.” She went on tiptoe in a not-so-subtle hint to gain their kisses.
Josh cradled her face, and Tucker smooched her between her long brows. “Josh, I hope you don’t mind me saying I fell for your wife the minute I set eyes on her again.”
Her glance darted to her husband. No words were exchanged but there was a world of meaning in Josh’s look. Tucker’s heart raced as they both turned to him.
“I’m pretty sure she returns the feelings, Tucker.”
Dixie threw her arms around both of their necks, clinging tight. When she kissed Josh, Tucker leaned his forehead against them, breathing in the moment. Then Dixie gave him her sweet rosebud lips and his world came full circle.
“I love you both,” Dixie said. “And I haven’t stopped thinking about both of you…inside me.” Her breathy voice made him rock-hard in a blink.
Josh pinched her ass hard enough to pull a squeal from her. “There’s a soft hay pile over there. Tucker?”
They lifted her between them, carried her to the hay and started stripping her and each other. Tucker spread his shirt over the hay. Josh lay bare on it, and Dixie straddled him.
Tucker watched their faces contort in bliss, his need mounting by the second. When he could barely stand it, he clutched Dixie’s round ass and slid home. Feeling them both as they gained a wild rhythm to satisfy three.
Dixie’s orgasm rushed over them. Josh came with a roar, and Tucker shook as bright stars flooded his vision. They continued to move slowly, touching each other. Josh smoothed his callused thumb over Tucker’s jaw, and Dixie twisted for his kiss.
Thinking he really was a part of something so much bigger gave Tucker real purpose unlike any he would have gotten with a ten-foot-high pile of trophy belt buckles. He was right where he belonged.
THE END
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Five brides for five brothers—the Dalton boys must marry to get a piece of the land they love.
About Em Petrova
Em Petrova lives in Backwoods, Pennsylvania, where she raises four kids and a Labradoodle named Daisy Hasselhoff. Her dream is to buy an old pickup and travel small-town USA meeting people and hearing their stories. Her heroes are hardworking—in bed and out—and she is known for panty-scorching erotic romance.