Seven
Than
Fuck. Her nipples were hard. I tore my eyes off them poking through yet another crop top she had on without a bra and looked back at Diane. Inhaling deeply through my nose, I thought of things that would make my dick go limp because, right now, it was thickening.
The slam of a car door got my attention, and I scowled, then strode toward the entrance to see who was here. Willing my cock to go down, I slowed my pace just in case it was Linc. He’d think shit was going on with us that wasn’t happening. Although her eyes had flared and her lips parted with a small gasp when I said good girl . Then that had been followed by her stiff nipples poking against the fabric of that cropped AC/DC shirt she was wearing. I had to stop thinking about it. It wasn’t helping my problem.
Before stepping out into the sun, I hesitated, wondering if I should adjust my crotch first, but then Montana would see me do it. If she was watching me. I glanced back at her, and she was squatted down, talking to the foal. The cutoff jean shorts she was wearing hung on her hips, and in that crouched position, I could see the thin red strap that told me she was wearing a G-string. Dammit. Not helping my dick.
I couldn’t keep from coming out here when I saw where she had stopped on the tracker I’d put on her phone last night. My lie about Linc had worked, but I’d already come up with that bullshit on my walk out here.
I should have stayed my ass in the cabin. Away from her. Going through her phone last night had fucked with my head. Instead of having ammunition to use against her, I had questions. Because the girl whose text, voice mails, and emails I’d read didn’t match the girl blackmailing the governor. And what nineteen-year-old female didn’t have any fucking social media? Nothing. Not one damn app. No TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat.
There was even one text thread that I’d read where this dude was pleading with her to forgive him. She wasn’t responding. I started to feel sorry for the guy and wanted to text him to grow a set of balls. But when I scrolled up until I found the last text she had sent to him, I had to cover my mouth to muffle my laughter. It was a screenshot, and although the girl who had posted it was the main focus of the photo, there was a couple making out in the background. I’d assumed it was the guy texting her since she’d broken up with him with a simple, We’re done .
Whoever had driven up had stopped me because I had been seconds away from shoving her against the wall and demanding she tell me how the girl’s phone I’d gone through last night and the one blackmailing her father was the same person.
Had her mother’s death made her that angry? Or was it that she really just needed some financial help and Baskin had been a dick about it?
The text threads she had with a Peg and a Melody sounded like she hadn’t had anywhere to live. They’d both been helping her and told her she didn’t have to ask the bastard for help.
That was something I did have that I could give to Linc—the first names of the people who knew about Baskin being her father. The thread with Melody sounded as if she had been sleeping on Melody’s sofa since selling her mom’s house. I just didn’t have their last names, but that should be easy enough to find out.
But when I’d put her phone back beside her bed last night, I hadn’t texted Linc the names. The fear that he’d use them to force her out was holding me back. The text I’d read sounded like she really had nowhere to go but the Melody woman’s sofa. And since both Melody and Peg had called Baskin a bastard and mentioned they wished her momma had made him pay child support all those years, my guess was that Baskin hadn’t helped financially. I felt myself leaning toward her side on this. Baskin was a dick. I knew the family kept his name clean and he, in return, did favors for us. But, damn, this was a hard one for me. Montana was his biological daughter. Her mom was dead.
“Figured you’d be out here when you weren’t at the cabin.”
Gathe’s voice had me jerking my head back around and off Montana’s exceptional ass.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.
I had been hoping Gathe wouldn’t get a look at her.
“Had to let Diane out,” I replied, stepping outside to meet him.
Maybe I could keep him from going in there. If he did, he’d never leave.
“You done?” he asked. “Kickoff is in twenty-minutes.”
I shook my head. “No. I’ve got things to do out here, and I’m tired of sitting in that damn cabin. Aren’t they watching it at the house?”
“Yeah, but being the good friend that I am, I’m sacrificing for you,” he said, then walked right past me and strode into the barn before I could stop him.
The moment he stepped inside, his steps faltered.
“Holy fuck,” he whispered, then glanced at me before looking back at her. “You’re a stingy, lying bastard—you know that?” he told me, still talking low enough so that only I could hear.
I started to remind him that she was a threat, but he moved too quickly. His long strides were headed right for her, and Montana looked up and noticed him, then stood. Her eyes shifted from me to him. I dropped my gaze to her tits and was relieved to see the nipples were no longer standing at attention. It was bad enough that you could see the outline of them in the shirt.
“Gathe,” I warned, but he didn’t even slow down.
“You must be Montana,” he drawled and did that thing where he ran his hand through his blond hair, making it even messier than it was.
I rolled my eyes. He stopped when he reached her and held out his hand. What the fuck?
“I’m Gathe Bowen. A friend of Than’s.”
Montana’s gaze flickered to me, and she looked uncertain. When she didn’t move to shake his hand, I realized she was waiting on me to tell her this was okay. I sighed. I wished she wouldn’t do that. It made me…dislike her less.
“It’s fine,” I told her. “He knows who you are.”
Her gaze shifted back to Gathe, and she still looked nervous, but she slipped her hand into his. He didn’t shake it but lifted it to his lips and kissed the back of it.
Are you fucking kidding me? Jesus.
The small smile that started to tug at the corners of her lips was accompanied by those green eyes lighting up with amusement.
“You’ve got the perfect nose,” he told her, holding her hand and leaning closer to look at it. “I think I just fell in love with those freckles.”
“Gathe,” I snarled.
He didn’t reply right away, but held her gaze a moment longer before turning his head slightly to cut his eyes at me.
“Problem?” he asked innocently.
“She’s not a hookup at a bar. Drop the Casanova bit,” I replied, disgusted.
He gave her his full attention again, but her eyes were darting back and forth between the two of us.
“No, she’s not,” he agreed while looking at her. “You know, green eyes and dark hair are my favorite combination.”
A small laugh bubbled out of her, and the dimples popped.
“Oh damn,” Gathe said with reverence in his tone. “You’ve got dimples.”
She raised her eyebrows, watching him with amusement. I was sure she was used to guys reacting to her like this. The treatment she had been getting from me must have been throwing her for a loop.
“Are you going to hold on to her hand all day?” I snapped.
He smirked at me. “I might.” Then he looked back at Montana. “Tell me, is he being nice to you? If not, I can ask Linc to let me take his place.”
“This is the reason Linc has me watching her and not you. Exactly what is happening right now. He knows I won’t fuck her.”
The way her eyes flared made me mentally curse myself for saying that in front of her. Fucking Gathe was annoying me.
Gathe nodded his head toward me as he kept his eyes on her. “He’s ornery today.” Then he pointed at the foal. “You like horses?”
“This is my first time seeing them up close,” she told him, turning to look back at Diane and Heartland.
He moved beside her, placing his motherfucking hand on her bare lower back as he leaned down closer to her, completely ignoring the way she flinched at his touch.
“Let’s get these two out there to play, and we’ll go watch them,” he told her.
She didn’t say anything. Gathe tilted his head to the side and gave her one of his stupid looks that he knew worked on females.
Fucker.
“Um, okay.”
Her reply didn’t help my mood.
I watched his hand, waiting for it to move. When he finally took it off her to open the stall and let Diane and the foal out, I relaxed a little. But not much. There was no reason for that to bother me, except Linc didn’t want us fucking her.
He reached up to pat Diane as she walked past them and led the foal out to the fenced-in field at the opposite end of the stables. The foal ran playfully, excited to be going out, and Montana’s laughter at the sight drew my attention back to her. Damn, when she laughed, her face really did light up. It was bad enough that she looked the way she did, but add that shit to it, and fuck .
My eyes cut to Gathe, and he was doing the same thing. Watching her. I was tempted to text Linc and let him know he was out here with her, but I was out here too. They weren’t alone. He’d probably point that out, and I’d look like I cared for other reasons. Which I didn’t.
They followed the horses, and Gathe’s head was bent toward her as he said something, and she laughed again.
Who knew Gathe was such a goddamn comedian?