Boots, Chaps, and Cowboy Hats (Taming Team Ten (Book One))

by Jana Leigh

  “Yeah, and the bar Boots, I am ready to see what they have to offer, if you know what I mean,” Gage said and wiggled his eyebrows.

  “The manwhore is back!” Jessie laughed and slapped his friend on the back.

  “Box,” Thane said and pointed.

  “Yeah,” Alex said and picked up the box and moved it toward him until it was on the floor directly in front of him. That is when he felt them, their six fallen team members standing next to each of the team. Fuck, what the hell? This time his eyes were wide open and they were just there, nodding and smiling.

  Frank leaned down and said quietly in his ear, 'They are not ready yet, but they will be, you on the other hand are, and time is running out, you have to find it, and do something.'

  Alex frowned and looked at his friends. “They are here.”

  The men all sat up and looked around, none of them could see anything, so they shrugged and one by one looked back to Alex. He took a deep breath and opened the box. Right on the top was his best friend’s hat, fuck, he thought and pulled it out and ran a hand over his name. This was going to suck.

  No one said a word as Alex pulled out Frank’s things one by one and laid them on the table in front of them. He took a deep breath and looked at the others. “Well?” Alex said and he looked around the room.

  “What are we looking for?” Jessie said and sadly picked up the small notebook that was resting on the table. Each of them reached out and picked up something, seeming to need the connection to their lost teammate.

  “Don’t know?” Alex admitted and then looked at a plastic baggie. “What’s this?” He could see the blood stains through the plastic and grimaced. It was taken from him that day.

  Everyone shrugged, seeming lost in their own thoughts but still paying attention. Alex picked up the baggie and saw his friend’s handwriting. DAMN IT, the fucking letter.

  “Shit,” Alex said and looked around the room. “The fucking letter, I told him not to mention it, and he did. I told him it was bad luck before the mission, but he insisted on it. Said he was taking leave to take care of something when we were done. He had tons of leave, like the rest of us.”

  “Oh man, so did Raider,” Gage whispered.

  “That is what this is about, their letters.” Alex breathed deeply and pulled out the slightly dirt and bloodstained paper.

  Dear Sable,

  Hey, sis, I am not sure where to begin. If you get this letter, I know what it means and this is the last time I will get to talk to you. First off, I would like to say I am sorry. The distance between us is my fault. I know that you never liked the military or understood what I needed from it. I just never stopped to explain it.

  When we were young and our parents left us alone to go out and find their next hit, it was just us. I felt like the responsibility choked me sometimes. I just wanted to have someone else tell me what to do for a while, I didn’t want to have to make decisions all the time, and in the military, I got that. They told me when to eat, sleep, and shit. Then they gave me something I never thought I would have. Stability. They paid me for doing something I loved—with men that I loved like brothers. I am sorry if you don’t get that. It is not that you were not enough or my family, it was that you were too much for me at the time. I will forever regret I was not there to see the woman you have become.

  I am assuming that your situation hasn't improved at all or I would have changed this letter. If it has not, you need to call my best friend, Alex "Boyscout" Prain-Strout—he will help. That is why we call him Boyscout; he will not be able to forgive himself if he didn’t. When he gets there, make sure you tell him it was not his fault, whatever it was that took me, it was not him. Alex likes to carry the world on his shoulders, but he is the best friend a man could have asked for and there is no way he should feel guilty about this.

  Take whatever money I have and make a new life somewhere else, get away from him until Alex can get there. I promise someone will help you.

  I love you, sis, and I suck as a brother, but at least let me try to make it up to you now. Call Alex, he will be there.

  Frank

  “Well fuck, is she in trouble?” Jessie asked.

  “I don’t know,” Alex admitted.

  “She would not have gotten the information from the military because we have his stuff. Shit,” Alex said, stood and looked at the address on the front and pulled his laptop from the table and began to type.

  An hour later, they had an ominous picture, the reports from the police, the repeated moves, and the desperation Sable must be feeling. Alex felt guilty when he looked up at his friends.

  “Shit, we could have stopped this,” Alex said.

  “We can only deal with now. There was a note on the top, they tried to send some of his information, but it was returned. She must have moved,” Thane said. “I checked the rest of them before I came down, this was the only one that had a note with it.”

  Alex nodded absently, “She lives in Kansas, we are driving by there on the way to the auction. We will stop and find her.”

  “We need a plan,” Gage said and looked at the others.

  “We bring her back here until it is safe, and then we can set her up anywhere she wants,” Alex said firmly.

  “Agreed,” Thane said and stood. “I will get Slone.”

  Chapter Eight

  Sable stood to the side, he was pounding on her front door again, and she refused to move. That asshole was not going to scare her. The last six months had sucked. Her brother died, and after she received the notifications, she realized she never gave her forwarding address to the men when they asked her to fill out information. She was so distraught that she couldn’t think.

  Frank and she had been together through so much, when they were younger, her older brother took care of everything, even insisting on them being placed together in a group home or a foster home so he could watch after her. He would never leave her alone intentionally.

  When he went into the service, their connection seemed to be strained. She didn’t understand his insistence on becoming a SEAL. However, she was determined to prove to the world, she was better than what she received. Great job she did. Sure, she completed college last year, but she had also picked up this loser who seemed to think she was the love of his life.

  She had moved five times in the last year trying to get the fuck away from him, and in this last week, she had been fired from her job because he continued to show up during her shifts. It was a lousy waitressing job until she found a real one, but still, it sucked.

  Her degree was in Business, and she was trying to find a job, but it was hard to find a job when you were worried to walk out your door. Now he found her again. Shit, her life was a fucking mess. Sable had gone to the police, and Steven, her stalker, had charges pending against him, but the asshole knew right when he had to leave so the cops couldn’t catch him. They had no idea where he was, or where to find him, he only showed up every few days pounded on her door, left stupid presents and darted before the cops showed up.

  She didn’t bother even calling them anymore, one of her neighbors would, and then he would be gone. The desperation flowing over her was beginning to take its toll. She wanted her brother, he was always the voice of reason when they were growing up, but now he was gone, and she'd lost any chance whatsoever to bridge the gap that had formed between them.

  She thought back to their last conversation and grimaced. It had been stilted and uncomfortable. Frank had changed, found something he was searching for in the military, while she had been left behind. Sable admitted she was a bitch when it came to the military, she didn’t understand the need to be uprooted all the time. They'd had that plenty when they were kids. Damn it, he was still at the door, maybe this time she would call the police, and they would catch him—right. The knocking stopped and she looked at the clock. The officers would arrive in three minutes, enough time for him to get away.

  Sable walked to the front door and waited. Her arms wrapped a
round her body as she waited for the knock on her door. They would tell her the same thing.

  She waited until they arrived, made their notes, looked at her with pity, and then left. Nice, this was her life. She wanted to scream. Sable turned off the lights and walked to her bedroom; it was the only room in the house she felt completely safe. The windows had been blacked out on the inside, so no one could see in, she had checked several times to make sure. The lights were on dim and she settled down to read a book, it was what she did. Hid in the dark, afraid and alone.

  “Really?” Sable yelled back through the door. “You freaky ass muther fucker, leave me the hell alone.”

  “Never,” Steven laughed, she had answered him this time. The sound of her voice—even angry—gave him a hard on. Though this time he had made sure the neighbors were not home, it was daylight—a first for him.

  “Fuck you,” she screamed and kicked the door. As the sirens could be heard in the distance, a little light came on his cell phone and Steven frowned. Who had called them so quickly?

  “Until later,” Steven called and left his present.

  This time was different. She insisted to the police that he was getting bolder. Coming out in the daytime should be an indication he was stalking her. He knew everyone in the building’s schedule, he knew when she would be alone, the only thing he had not anticipated was one of her neighbors calling in sick. They all knew about Steven, it was one of the few places she moved to that had. The other places the people who lived around her were indifferent and one older man seemed to think it was her fault—that she had led him on.

  There was a knock on her door and she tensed, what the hell was she supposed to do? He was back already?

  “Sable?” a man’s voice called out.

  That was not the crazy asshole, but she didn’t think she knew them either. She stepped to the door and put her ear next to it. She could hear the rumble of voices through the door and listened closely. There was a group of them.

  “She doesn’t work, and her neighbor said the cops were here a few hours ago. The guy is accelerating,” one man said.

  “We need to find her,” another said.

  “Frank trusted me, damn it,” the last said.

  “Well then, get her to answer the fucking door or we are going to have to do it the hard way,” the first man said.

  “Fine, gimme a minute,” the last man said.

  She could hear the shuffle of more than three men in her hallway. She slowly leaned up and looked through the little peephole. Shit, they were huge. She moved side to side and checked them all out, and they were drop dread gorgeous. She focused on two of them that stood right next to each other, and couldn't have been more different.

  “Sable?” the handsome military man said, she knew he was military because of the way he stood, just as her brother had been. The others were military too, but the man who stood next to the one who spoke was not. He was something else, something raw. His longer black hair made her want to run her hands through it. What the fuck?

  “My name is Alex, uh, Boyscout, I was your brother’s friend. We have to talk to you. I want to help,” the handsome military man said. Her brother? Boyscout? She remembered one of his letters and went to the box where she had them stored while she listened as the man explained why he was there.

  “We know you are afraid, we just want to help, Frank was going to come, did you know that? Before the, uh, accident I mean, he had plans to come back!” the man yelled as she found the letter.

  She sat down on the couch as she opened the letter and began to skim over it. She stopped when she came to the section where Frank talked about his friend Boyscout. Shit, maybe they could help.

  Sable bound up from the couch, ran for the door, and flung it open. Home, she thought when the man's arms closed around her and she began to sob. Someone was coming to help her—her brother had sent them. She couldn’t believe it.

  When the small, luscious woman flung open the door, Slone wanted to jump back, but instead, he found himself with an armful of sobbing woman and had no clue what the fuck to do, other than hold her. She fit into his arms perfectly was his first thought, and then he met Alex’s stunned eyes over the top of her head and he knew. This was the woman for both of them, the one he had been waiting for.

  Her long straight dark brown hair covered her face, and Alex grimaced. What was he supposed to do; he looked around the small sparsely decorated room and his eyes settled on a picture of her. It was graduation. She was smiling into the camera and his breath caught, her face was heart shaped and her green eyes seemed to light up and sparkle with mischief. He was drawn to her lusciously curved body and tall form; she would fit perfectly against him.

  “Hey, it's okay,” Slone whispered into her ear and then walked through the door with her when Thane pushed him from behind.

  “But he… I… they…” she cried and tried to talk through the sobs. Slone sat down with her on his lap in the rather small chair, waiting, and trying to sooth her. The others, including Alex, looked around and didn’t make a noise. Although Slone could tell, they were uncomfortable with the show of emotion.

  When the tears finally began to subside, he knew the moment the little bundle of emotion remembered where she was, sitting on a strange man's lap—she stiffened.

  “Shit, I am sorry,” she said standing and wiping at her face. Slone smiled at her, trying to look reassuring. He was rewarded with a grin in reply.

  “No worries,” Slone murmured and Alex stepped up.

  “Sable?” Alex said slowly.

  The woman nodded and Slone looked at her. Damn she was perfect, short, curvaceous, and looked like an angel. He wished they had met under better circumstances.

  “Yeah, sorry about that. Uh, so you are Boyscout?” she said to Alex who introduced the rest of the men.

  Slone waited patiently until his friend said, “And this is Slone Brate, he is the foreman of the ranch we all own.”

  “Okay,” she said hesitantly.

  “Listen, I know us showing up out of the blue is weird, but we have something that Frank left you, something you never received. I…we need to give it to you,” Alex said, sighed, and handed Sable the letter.

  “Okay,” she said again and then looked at the men who were shuffling their feet. She walked into the bedroom where she could be alone, sniffling, she opened the letter. Alex and Slone stood in the doorway watching her as she read it.

  Tears started streaming down her face as she touched over the paper where her brother had written his last letter to her. Damn, this was heartbreaking. Slone looked at Alex whose face was stony. This had to be ripping him apart inside, he had only caught a glimmer of what his friend was going through, he knew that, but hopefully he would begin to heal once this was finished.

  Alex stood straight when he saw Frank appear next to his sister and smiled down at her. His breath caught in his chest when his friend put a hand to his sister’s head and petted it, like he was reassuring her without her knowing. Sable reached up as if she felt his hand on her head and grasped it. Alex sucked in a deep breath when she startled and looked at him. She had felt Frank. Maybe he wasn't butt ass crazy after all.

  Sable looked surprised to find him across the room from her, "Oh, sorry," she said confused and looked around sniffing.

  Alex cleared his throat and then looked at his friend who was resting a hand on her shoulder, calming her visibly. She took a deep breath and began reading it. His friend sighed when she began to cry again, silently, and then Frank wrapped his arm around her shoulder, continuing to comfort her as she read.

  Frank turned to look at him and said, 'Thank you.'

  Alex nodded and waited. Sobs came from the small woman as she read and wrapped one arm around herself. Frank continued to try to sooth his sister, but she wasn’t feeling him. Alex felt torn, should he go to her? He felt like she needed him, and then it struck him. He wanted to be the one who calmed her, and helped her through this, she was special—he
could feel it.

  When she was finished, Alex cleared his throat and looked at the tear-stained face. “We will wait out here until you get yourself together.”

  Sable nodded absently, walked into the bathroom, and shut the door. Alex felt the breath leave his chest, the one he had been holding. Damn, this sucked.

  “She needs us,” Alex said quietly to his friend, it was as if they had already planned this, almost like something was drawing them together. He looked up and Frank was smiling and nodding, as if he understood something. Shit.

  “Yeah,” Slone responded. “But she has been through hell, we need to get her the fuck out of here.”

  “Agreed, let's go talk to the others,” Alex said, then walked back into the small living room where the guys were sitting in the small furniture looking uncomfortable.

  Sable looked into the mirror and grimaced. She looked like shit, she felt like shit, and she couldn’t believe that she jumped into a strange man's arms. It had felt right, but still. She needed to get herself together, and go talk to them. Maybe they had an idea of how to handle her situation.

  She washed her face slowly, and tried to tame her hair, instead she stuck her tongue out at herself and pulled back her brown hair into a ponytail. It would have to do, she hadn’t cared about her appearance for weeks, and it showed. She looked down, she wore a pair of sweats, and her monkey socks. The last present her brother had sent her.

  “Oh well,” she muttered and looked around the bathroom and straightened it up. Shit, her house was a mess. She was a mess. Whatever, she thought and pulled open the door. Thank god, they had left. At least she could have another moment alone. She looked around her room and grimaced, it looked sad like it was. The shabby furniture was necessary for her since she moved so much. She wished she could afford to have something else, but she couldn’t.