Wrangle Me, Cowboys_A Reverse Harem Forbidden Romance

by Alexa B. James

  “Oh, I can handle whiskey,” I said. “I’m a Manhattan girl, remember?”

  “Apparently not wine, though,” Waylon rumbled from the end of the table. He was frowning at me.

  I just fixed him with my sweetest smile. “It’s not the whiskey you should be worried about.”

  “It’s not,” he said, his voice low and steady, his eyes fixed on mine. A shiver went through me. I could never tell if he wanted to rip my clothes off or rip my face off.

  After my brief slips with the other two, things had gone back to normal. But Waylon had never been the same since the night he saw me naked. It wasn’t like I meant to fall in the cow water when it was thirty degrees outside. I didn’t know why he held that against me. It had been his idea to take all my wet clothes off.

  Sawyer stepped between us, breaking the tension crackling in the air. He set the glasses down and neatly poured a bit into each.

  “Don’t tell anyone I’m serving alcohol to a minor,” he said with a wink.

  “Ha,” I said. “Just because I’m not twenty-one doesn’t mean I’m underage.”

  “Uh huh,” Waylon said.

  “Trust me, I’ve had a fake ID for a while, and it was not going to waste.”

  “That, or Daddy has a liquor cabinet,” he said.

  I tried to hide the sting of that, because it was true. I had raided Dad’s liquor cabinet on more than one occasion when I’d started wanting to try things I shouldn’t. But Waylon’s insinuating that I was a liar made my blood boil. Plus, I didn’t like thinking of Dad not being married to Mom, because their dad was. It was too creepy.

  “Let’s take this in the other room,” Sawyer said, picking up a glass and heading for the living room. The rest of us followed, silence weighing heavy in the air.

  Holden sat on one end of the leather couch. Sawyer steered me towards the couch, his hand on the small of my back. “Have a seat, Princess,” he said.

  I took a seat next to Holden, suddenly feeling like I was about to be handed my walking papers. Were they sending me back to New York? Had I crossed a line with Waylon that was okay to cross with the others, but not with him?

  I threw back my whiskey like a shot before turning to face Waylon, who had taken the armchair instead of joining us on the couch.

  “Slow down, there, Princess,” Sawyer said, sloshing a little more whiskey into my glass before sitting on my other side.

  “We have something to talk to you about,’’ Waylon said, glowering from under the brim of his hat, which was pulled low over his dark eyes like usual.

  “Please don’t tell me you’re sending me to live with your mother,” I blurted out.

  “We told you we weren’t,” Holden said. “You can trust us, Amber. We wouldn’t do that.”

  I gulped again at his intense, serious expression. All I could do was nod mutely, though I wanted to slide over and snuggle into his safe arms. This wasn’t the time.

  “It’s more of a proposal,” Sawyer said, excitement radiating through his smile. It washed over me, and a tingle of anticipation crept into my nervousness.

  “An indecent proposal?” I asked, unable to keep myself from smiling back at him.

  “The most indecent,” he said. “But we wanted to clear up some things first. Make sure we’re all on the same page.”

  “All?” I asked, remembering Waylon there, glowering at me.

  “I guess you’ve probably gotten the idea we all want to fuck you,” Sawyer said, sipping his whiskey.

  I nearly coughed whiskey all over him.

  Like that was just a normal thing to say!

  But then, I always had liked his candor. He didn’t make me wonder, unlike some people. Some people named Waylon.

  I swallowed my mouthful of whiskey so fast my eyes burned. “Right now?”

  “Not right now,” Waylon growled, sounding irritated.

  “I don’t know,” Sawyer said, looking me over in a way that made those tingles of excitement take root between my legs. “I’d give it a whirl.”

  I set my glass down so I wouldn’t finish it off before they’d finished one. Now was not the time to get sloppy drunk and make an ass of myself, either. Not when three men had just told me they wanted to fuck me. All of them.

  Suddenly, my head was spinning.

  Holden reached out and took my hand. “Amber, we’re not holding you hostage. We just want to clear the air. Put everything out there.”

  I nodded. I’d never been around guys like this, who just came out and said that without preamble, so matter-of-factly. Of course, most of the guys I’d been around were still in fucking high school, or at bars, so they were all about the games.

  “That doesn’t mean you have to want us back,” Holden said. “Sawyer just means that we all like you. So there it is. We want you to know. And we wouldn’t mind knowing how you feel. If there’s one of us you’d like to pursue a relationship with, we’ll all protect you both.”

  “Protect me?”

  “From prying eyes, wagging tongues…” Sawyer said, then added a wink. “Except ours, of course.”

  “If anyone finds out, it won’t be just gossip,” Waylon said. “It could ruin your reputation, and not just around here.”

  I imagined it now. The tabloids. The scandal I was supposed to be escaping. My mother’s career. Their father’s career.

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  “And our parents’ careers,” I said, my heart throbbing in my chest.

  “Then we’ll just have to make sure no one finds out,” Sawyer said.

  For a minute, we all just sat in silence. Finally Sawyer shifted and crossed his foot over his knee.

  “No matter who you choose, we’re all behind you, one hundred percent,” Holden said.

  I realized then that they were waiting for an answer. I had to pick.

  Forgetting my reservations, I gulped down a swallow of burning whiskey, then set my glass down and wiped my hands on my jeans. Well, this was just craptastic. How was I supposed to choose?

  13

  Amber

  My eyes moved over Holden, his massive thighs and the bulge in his jeans. I swallowed and let my eyes continue up his body to his bulging arms that I wanted wrapped around me all night, his broad shoulders and thick chest, and his serious face. Those warm brown eyes, his soft lips, his sweet manner. His concern for me, his artistic side, the way he’d used me as his muse. He was the safe choice, and I’d break his heart if I didn’t want him. How could I not choose him?

  But then there was Sawyer. Blunt, yes, but fun and straightforward. No games. He wanted me, and I wanted him. We could cook together, flirt and share food. I had fantasized about him throwing me down on the kitchen table more than once. And he was just as sexy as Holden, with those arms that made me positively drool. Between that and his blonde hair and the stubble on his cheeks, that sexy wink of his that made me feel like I was in on all his jokes, and his mischievous smile that always reached his blue eyes, how could I pick anyone else?

  And then there was Waylon. I was pretty sure he was the one I shouldn’t choose. But that only made me want to choose him more. I’d only barely gotten to know him, a rare glimpse once in a while, even as I felt like I was getting to know the others pretty well now. Waylon was the standoffish one, the watcher. He made me feel like an idiot most of the time, and I didn’t know exactly how he’d take rejection. Hell, I wasn’t even sure he wanted me at all, despite our little fireside chat.

  He was the boss, though. I could just tell. And I could imagine what it would be like for him to boss me around between the sheets. The thought of it both excited and scared me a little. But in a good way.

  Basically, I wanted them all. So yeah, maybe I was a greedy bitch.

  “I…I can’t,” I said, wanting nothing more than to run from the room. But they’d been straight with me, so I owed it t
o them to be straight with them.

  “Why not?” Waylon asked.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, staring at the coffee table, wishing I had more to drink. That had always been my surest bet, my escape. But now I was stone cold sober and itching to drown my reality in a bottle.

  “Don’t be sorry,” Holden said. “There’s no blame here. We understand.”

  “No, it’s not that I don’t like you,” I said quickly. “I mean, I like you a lot. All of you.” I gulped, trying to slow the torrent of nervous words building inside me. But as usual, it overtook my sense of reason, and all came pouring out. I was shit at keeping my feelings to myself. “But that’s just it. I’m sorry. I can’t pick one of you, because I’m just getting to know you, and I really don’t know who I like more, because you’re all equally yummy, if we’re being honest. Don’t make me choose. It’s too much pressure. See, I like all of you for different reasons, and together, you make the world’s most perfect, hottest guy. But individually—I mean, I’m not saying that any of you are less than perfect, but—"

  “It’s okay,” Sawyer said, looking infuriatingly amused. “Nobody’s perfect.”

  “Yeah, I mean, look at me. I take verbal diarrhea to new heights.”

  Did I just say diarrhea in front of the three hottest guys on the planet?

  “Is that what you call it?” Waylon said, sounding less amused.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I can’t choose.”

  “I thought as much,” Waylon said.

  “We were hoping you’d say that,” Sawyer said. He had that delighted smile shining all over his face again.

  I gulped. “You were? Why?”

  “Because we all like you, too,” Holden said, like that explained everything.

  “And you didn’t want me to choose one of you and hurt the other two? I don’t get it.”

  “No,” Sawyer said, scooting closer and angling himself to face me on the couch. “We wanted to make sure before we opened ourselves up to you.”

  “Okay…”

  “See, we’ve been waiting a long time for the right woman to come along,” he said. “One who understood what kind of lifestyle we want, and who might be open to seeing how it goes.”

  “I’m afraid I’m a little lost,” I said. “What’s this lifestyle?”

  “We want to share.”

  I remembered their words to me before. We share everything. Hadn’t they all said that to me now, at one point or another.

  “Share…me?” I asked, just to make sure.

  “Exactly,” Sawyer said.

  I’d thought about it. Of course I had. I’d fantasized about it. They’d even hinted at it before. But now that it was all out in the open, staring me in the face, I didn’t know. A fantasy was one thing. Reality was another. How was I, a senator’s virginal daughter, going to handle three big burly cowboys? How could I keep them satisfied? I’d never even seen a real life penis, let alone had three of them stuffed inside me at once.

  “How would it work?” I asked at last, after a long silence.

  “However you want it to work,” Holden said, taking my hand again. “You’re in complete control. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, ever. We’ll respect your boundaries.”

  “Do we need, like, a schedule? A safe word?”

  “No schedule,” Holden said. “Just whatever you’re in the mood for.”

  Sawyer grinned. “And you don’t need a safe word. Just tell us what you want and don’t want. We’re not planning on tying you up and gagging you. Unless, of course, you’re into that.”

  “I might be,” I said, giving him my most charming grin. But of course I was faking. I was full of shit. I had no idea what I was into.

  Waylon cleared his throat and shifted in his armchair. Of course it was Waylon who saw through me. “You told our mother you were a virgin,” he reminded me.

  “Okay, so I may not have had an actual penis inside me, but I’m quite adept with a vibrator,” I offered.

  “Christ.” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes like I was trying his patience.

  “Well, it’s not like I meant to be a virgin,” I said. “I had a boyfriend for a long time, but he said he was celibate. He was basically a human chastity belt. Hell, for all I know, my parents hired him to be my boyfriend so I wouldn’t run around sleeping with anyone they didn’t pre-approve. And then I found him getting busy with two other girls, and I threw soup on him, and eggs, and he called the cops on me. And that’s how I got arrested and ended up here.”

  There was a long moment of silence. “That’s why you got arrested?” Holden asked.

  I nodded, my throat suddenly tight. I didn’t want to think about that asshole cheating on me, about how much I’d trusted him and what a sucker I’d been. It wasn’t fair for Waylon to blame me for that. Suddenly, I had the horrifying realization that I was about to burst into tears.

  “Who is this guy?” Sawyer said. “I think he needs a taste of Wyoming justice.”

  “No, it’s fine,” I said, taking a shaky breath. “I’m over it. I just want to get on with my life. That’s part of why I came out here. To get away from that whole mess.”

  “You should have told us,” Holden said quietly. “We wouldn’t be putting this on you if we knew that’s what you just went through.”

  His kindness just made me want to cry more. But I wasn’t going to cry on them about Charlie. He didn’t deserve my tears, and these guys deserved much more.

  “I don’t want to be treated with kid gloves,” I said. “I’m not broken. And I’m tired of being treated like a fragile artifact kept behind bulletproof glass. I don’t want to be seen and not touched.”

  “Oh, we won’t put you on a shelf,” Waylon said, lifting his head. “If we do this, if you want a relationship with all three of us, we’ll do more than touch you.”

  I shivered at the thought.

  He sat forward, his hands knotting between his knees. “Don’t get me wrong. We’ll admire you. But it won’t be from afar. We’re going to fuck you, Amber. All of us.”

  God, all three of them! What if it was too many?

  “But if you’re that inexperienced…we’re going to have to get you ready for it before we go there. Train you a little.”

  “Train me?” I asked, anger erasing my urge to cry. “I’m not a dog.”

  “No,” he said. “You’re a virgin. And a virgin can’t handle what we’re going to do to you.”

  “Oh,” I said, swallowing past the anticipation building inside me. “What exactly does that entail?”

  “Oh, you’ll see,” Waylon said. “We might even give you a taste of it tonight.”

  “Tonight?” The thought made me breathless, and I could feel pressure building between my legs.

  “Are you in?” Sawyer asked eagerly. “Is this really what you want? All three of us, together and apart?”

  I nodded again, quivering with excitement at the prospect of three men wanting me. Not the way Charlie did, as an arm piece and a political move. They just flat out wanted me. And I wanted them. “I’m in.”

  “This isn’t a one-night thing,” Holden said. “We’re not talking about a foursome. We’re talking about a relationship. All of us being together. Maybe for a long time. We don’t just want to claim your body, Amber. We want your heart and soul to belong to us, too.”

  I almost told them it already did. But it seemed awfully soon to be talking about love.

  “You realize if there’s gossip, people will be harsher to you,” Waylon warned.

  I remembered my mother telling me to grow up, that I should know life wasn’t fair. Well, she sure had picked a good place to send me. I was about to do all kinds of growing up.

  “The three of us will do everything we can to protect you from that, and make sure it doesn’t happen,” Sawyer said. “If we don’t react to the idle gossip, it’ll go away. And if we don’t feed it, it won’t come back.”

  I thought of Mrs. Grimes
out there in her cabin, nosing around and trying to see through the window.

  “Then we’ll be careful,” I said. “But I want to do this. With all of you.”

  I still couldn’t believe they were okay with sharing. I kept waiting for the punchline, or to wake up from this dream. I’d gone from a guy who wouldn’t even touch my boobs to three guys who looked like they had their hearts set on devouring every inch of me.

  “So,” Sawyer said, scooting even closer, draping his arm across my the back of the couch. “How about that taste we mentioned earlier?”

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  Amber

  I gulped. “A…taste?”

  Sawyer’s eyes flicked down and then back up, and he grinned. “Yeah. Just a sample of what’s to come. For all four of us.”

  “Okay,” I whispered, my heart hammering.

  Holden scooted closer on my other side. “Don’t worry,” he said, his muscular arm sliding around me and pulling me close. “You don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for.”

  I gulped. If I was going to do this, I might as well do it all the way. I was so fucking ready. “Okay,” I said. “What do I need to do?”

  “Just relax and enjoy,” Sawyer said with a wink.

  Holden massaged my shoulder, his eyes serious. “The second you want to stop, just say the word and we’ll stop, no questions asked.”

  “No safe word?”

  “How about stop?” Sawyer asked. “Just tell us, and we’ll stop. Relax, Princess. We’re all adults here. We can control ourselves.”

  I looked up at Waylon, who had moved to stand beside the fire, his face blank as a statue’s. I had to work harder to read him, studying his dark eyes. The rest of his face gave nothing away. “Who goes first?” I asked.

  The other brothers looked to Waylon, too.

  “That’s your call, Princess,” he said.

  Craptastic. I didn’t want to decide that. I’d never even been naked in front of a guy. And now these three gorgeous men who all had experiences beyond my imaginings were asking me to choose what I wanted.

  “I’s okay, Am,” Holden said, turning my face towards him. “We can just play it by ear.”