Trusting Them (15 page)

“Thanks, I just might stay awhile.” Oh, if only she could.

He introduced her to each of the four horses, then escorted her around the closer buildings and corrals. She stopped and talked with each of the animals that were close by and nearly climbed in Brady’s arms when one of the bulls snorted at her.

Brady led her back to the house and held the door for her as she walked in. The smell of food instantly had her mouth watering. She should have offered to cook instead of dragging Brady all over the ranch. He and Brock had spent all their time with her while she’d been in the hospital. They were probably way behind now because of her, and she was making it worse. Maybe she shouldn’t have come back there after all. She would only be in the way again.

“I’m so glad you’re here.” Brady twirled her around and then walked over to the stove to lift the lid on a pot.

“It smells good whatever it is,” she offered.

“Soup. We brought it back with us from the hospital.” Brock walked into the room.

“Hey, I can make cornbread to go with it. How would you like that?” she asked.

“You don’t have to do that,” Brock said.

“Sounds good to me,” Brady said.

Jeni laughed and began searching through the kitchen for the ingredients for cornbread. Once she had everything gathered together, she found a pan and heated some oil in the bottom of it. While she mixed together the rest of the ingredients, she listened to Brock and Brady talk about the ranch and what was going on with it. It felt almost like being a family.

* * * *

Brock sat back from the table patting his stomach. The cornbread had been perfect with the soup. Their little baby girl could cook. Looking over at Brady, he could see how much his brother had grown to love Jeni. The domestic scene looked like a cozy family, one from a holiday Christmas card. She looked to be about asleep on her feet though. It was time to put her to bed.

“Brady, let’s get her upstairs. She’s going to pass out on us any minute now.”

“Oh, no. I need to see about the dishes.” Jeni covered her mouth with her hand as she yawned.

“I think we can handle a few dirty bowls and spoons,” Brock said as he picked her up in his arms.

Jeni squealed and threw her arms around his neck to hold on. He pretended to choke, and she instantly let go of him. He barely caught her before she fell out of his arms. Brady collapsed on a chair laughing at them.

“Easy there, baby. I almost lost you.”

Brock shook his head and carried her through the kitchen door into the living room and up the stairs. He hesitated in the bedroom for all of a second, but she didn’t seem to notice. He dropped her on the bed, and she bounced with a giggle.

“Okay, let’s get you in bed. Hold on while I pull off your boots.” He bent over and pulled off one of her new boots.

“I should help with the dishes,” she said again as she fell back against the covers.

He stood up from taking off her socks and found her sound asleep. He shook his head with a smile and began undressing her. Her honey cinnamon scent teased his nose and, ultimately, his dick. He left her underwear on and tucked her under the covers with the electric blanket on. He and Brady wouldn’t be crawling into bed with her this time.

That fact had a sobering effect on his libido. He watched her sleep for a few seconds then went back downstairs to help Brady clean up the kitchen. They needed to work on a plan to get her to agree to stay with them. Brock had come to the realization that he was falling in love with her too. The idea of her not being there every day to greet them tore a part of him up inside. No, she had to stay one way or another. She belonged with them. They just had to convince her of that fact.

Brady was wiping down the stove when he reached the kitchen. He had a lost look on his face. Brock was hesitant to interrupt whatever thoughts had him looking so serious.

“She was sound asleep before I could even get her boots off of her.”

“I’m not surprised. We walked all over the ranch before dinner.” Brady rinsed out the dishrag and laid it on the side of the sink.

“She seemed to like it, didn’t she?” Brock asked.

“Yeah.”

“So what’s got you looking like you lost your best friend?” Brock knew the answer but wanted Brady to say it out loud.

“I guess ‘cause I am...losing my best friend. She’s gonna leave, isn’t she?”

“Probably. Unless we can come up with a way to get her to stay,” Brock agreed.

“Like what?” Brady asked.

“What if we offer her a job to stay here?”

“Doing what?”

“Cooking and seeing after the place,” Brock suggested.

Brady scrunched up his face and then shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know if that’s much of an incentive to stay, though.”

“If we suggest it right. She doesn’t have anywhere to be right now. Put it to her like this is something temporary until she gets her feet under her and decides what she wants to do now that her ex isn’t in the picture.”

“That could work. I guess it’s worth a try. I was kind of hoping that after we had sex she would be ours.” He huffed out a breath. “I guess that was wishful thinking though.”

“I don’t think she knows what she wants right now. She was sort of beholden to us in her mind since we helped her.” He held up his hand when Brady tried to interrupt. “I know she wasn’t, but she might have seen it that way.”

“God, I hope not. I don’t expect sex for helping someone,” Brady growled.

“Neither do I, but we don’t know what she is thinking. Hell, she’s a woman. There’s never any telling what they are thinking.” Brock leaned back against the cabinet.

“So, we ask her to stay and help us out until she decides what she might want to do. In the meantime, we try and get her to fall in love with us. That’s the plan.”

“I’m in.”

* * * *

Jeni stretched in the bed without opening her eyes. She’d had a wonderful dream where all three of them lived together on the ranch. It had seemed so real. She wished it were true. She loved the ranch and was quickly falling in love with the guys. Leaving was going to be so hard to do when the time came. In fact, it was going to be heartbreaking. She wished there was some way to get them to fall for her like she had fallen for them. But you couldn’t force someone to love you.

She rolled over to her side and wished they were in bed with her right now. She missed that. It seemed wrong somehow for them not to be there with her. The clock on the bedside table said it was five a.m. They would be up soon, cooking breakfast and getting ready to go out and check on the cows. Cattle? What did they call them?

An idea had her sitting straight up in bed. Maybe she could cook for them. They seemed to have enjoyed her cornbread with the soup last night. They had definitely liked the pancakes she had cooked the other morning. It would give her something useful to do while she set about getting them to need her so badly they would want her to stay. If they got used to her being around all the time, maybe they would realize they didn’t want her to leave. Jeni smiled. It was a good plan.

She shot out of the bed and hurriedly dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve flannel shirt. No sounds could be heard throughout the house as she tiptoed down the stairs trying to avoid the squeaking steps. On reaching the kitchen, Jeni began pulling out ingredients for omelets and biscuits.

By the time the coffee was ready, she had the biscuits made and cut out, ready for the oven. Footfalls sounded on the stairs. Her guys were coming down. She hoped they liked omelets. She’d put ham, cheese, onions, and peppers in them. Now she worried they might not have liked all of that in their eggs.

“Coffee. Brady, what are you doing up so early…” he trailed off when he saw her standing by the stove.

“Good morning, Brock.” She smiled at him, feeling a little shy for some reason.

“What are you doing up so early? I thought it was Brady. Should have known better. He doesn’t get up a minute before he has to.”

“I hope you guys like omelets.”

Brock took down a coffee mug and poured a cup. “Love them, but you didn’t have to get up and cook for us. We can manage on our own.”

“I love to cook. Since you’re letting me stay here for awhile, I thought I could do a little something around the place to sort of earn my keep.” Jeni licked her lips in hopes he would agree.

“Baby, you don’t have to lift a finger while you’re here if you don’t want to. You’re our guest for as long as you want to stay.”

“You can stay forever as far as I’m concerned.” Brady walked into the kitchen with a yawn.

“You both are treating me like a princess. I don’t mind cooking and picking up some. I’ll go stir-crazy if I don’t do something. Please let me at least cook for you while I’m here. I really do enjoy cooking.”

“That’s because you are a princess—our princess.” Brady walked over and kissed her on the lips.

Jeni barely refrained from touching her lips with her fingers. He’d kissed her. She smiled and then turned to put the biscuits in the oven to cover her joy.

“Give me fifteen minutes, and everything will be ready,” Jeni said, getting busy with the omelets.

“She’s making omelets and homemade biscuits,” Brock said.

“Yum! We got any of that blackberry jam left?” Brady went to the pantry to rummage around.

“It should be in the refrigerator if it’s been opened. Otherwise, it might not be any good anymore.” Jeni folded one of the omelets.

“Damn. Don’t see it in the pantry,” he said.

“She told you to look in the fridge.” Brock winked at her.

“Here it is.” Brady pulled a half-empty jar out of the back of the fridge.

Brock laughed. “Told you.”

Brady shot him the bird and walked around to the coffeepot to pour a cup for himself.

Jeni listened as the two men discussed what they planned to accomplish while she finished up the omelets and pulled out the biscuits. It felt nice to be together like this. It was how she thought a family would feel like. Sure, there were two men in the picture, but did that really matter? Her hand faltered at buttering the biscuits. What if they didn’t want her together? She hadn’t thought of that.

“Hey, looks like breakfast is ready.” Brady’s voice cut in on her thoughts.

“Come and get it.” She smiled and passed the plate of omelets to Brock to carry to the table. She brought the biscuits.

“Man, this looks good.” Brady pulled out her chair for her to sit.

The three of them ate without much conversation. The men seemed to be enjoying the food, so Jeni held out hope they would warm to the idea of her working for them. It would be a start.

After finishing their omelets and about four biscuits each, Brock picked up his plate and took it to the sink.

When he rinsed it, Jeni jumped up.

“Hey, I’ve got that. I’ll put everything in the dishwasher.”

“No reason for you to do that. You cooked.”

“And it was damn good too,” Brady added.

As soon as Brady finished his last biscuit, he rinsed off his plate as well and added it to the dishwasher. Both men grabbed hold of her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“See you later, baby girl,” Brock said.

“Will you be in for lunch?” she asked before they made it out the door.