CHAPTER 40
Arlo
I leaned against the porch railing and watched Maxie as she brushed out Bob’s tail. He kept flicking it back and forth, swishing it out of her hands, while doing what could only be called laughing. He kept throwing his head back with every single tooth in his head showing. Maxie struggled through it, talking to the big horse the whole time. From where I was, I couldn’t hear what she was saying but damned if I wasn’t tempted to get closer so I could.
“She’s beautiful.” Rhett stood next to me, his mouth full of a muffin Maxie had baked. “And talented. This muffin tastes amazing.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. The pink hair, the short cut, it suited her in a way that made my mouth go dry. She was stunning. I’d nearly driven a nail through my hand earlier when she’d walked out in just a tank top over her jeans, no bra in sight. The sway of her tits, the way her nipples made the ribbed material pucker, I’d been lost.
Shep came out onto the porch and grunted.
“Never thought I’d want to be a horse so desperately.”
“At this point, I’d put on a saddle and pretend if it meant she paid me that much attention.” I realized I’d shocked them and had to laugh. “What? The woman is driving me crazy. I just—”
“What the hell?” Rhett stepped forward and scowled as we all watched a truck speeding down the drive.
I jumped over the railing and ran to Maxie, wanting to put myself between her and whoever the hell was heading our way like a bat out of hell. Bob tried to bite me when I got closer but I slapped his flank and growled at him to behave.
Maxie looked over her shoulder to see what I was scowling at and groaned.
“That’s Mills’ truck.”
I relaxed enough to reach over and tug a strand of her hair.
“Think he heard about your new style?”
She smiled up at me and for a moment my breath caught. I couldn’t imagine anyone ever saying a bad word to her. Her smile was so innocent and sweet, a show of her heart. She was good and she deserved to be cherished. I swallowed the wave of emotion and brushed my thumb over her lips.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She tried to duck her head but I held her steady.
“I love you, Maxine.”
Her lips popped open as she gasped. Hell, I was as shocked as she was. I hadn’t meant to say the words, no matter how much I knew them to be true. It wasn’t the time or place but I couldn’t regret telling her, not when I meant it with everything I was and would ever be.
Before she had a chance to say anything Mills’ truck slid to a stop and he was out, coming at me. His face was red with anger as he kicked up dirt with every stomp.
“Surrogacy?! I held my tongue and okayed the three of you going after my little sister and you want her to be your surrogate ? You think you can just use her like that?”
He swung and I let it happen, sensing he needed a win. The man had been ripped raw by Maxie not that long before. Still, his hit made me stumble back a few steps and it hurt like hell. I rubbed my jaw and spit out a pool of blood from a split in my lip.
Maxie screamed and didn’t hesitate to jump on her brother’s back, tightening her arms around his neck.
“Don’t hit him!”
Mills didn’t even seem to notice her attempts at choking him.
“She isn’t some tool you can use to have your fucking kid! She deserves a hell of a lot more than that from you three and if you can’t give her that, I’m going to beat the hell out of you until you change your mind!”
Rhett plucked Maxie off of Mills’ back and easily held her to his chest while grinning.
“You’ve got things a little mixed up, buddy. Although I’m interested in how you heard about your sister’s plan.”
Mills stilled.
“What?”
I wiped blood from my mouth and raised my eyebrows at him.
“Yeah. The surrogacy is your sister’s shitty plan. A plan we’re refusing, by the way. We’re not accepting anything but everything from her but she’s stubborn as hell.”
Swinging around on his sister, Mills threw his arms out to the side.
“What the hell, Maxie? Why would you want to be a surrogate? And what the fuck happened to your hair?”
I let out a low growl.
“Careful. She’s beautiful and you’ll do yourself a favor by not acting like she’s anything but.”
“It’s none of your business, Mills.” Maxie had the nerve to act haughty while being held like a child. She tipped that stubborn chin up in the air and crossed her arms. “And I like my hair.”
“I think it is my business. Especially since I got no less than five calls this morning about you being a surrogate. Apparently, people are horrified, thinking these guys wanted it. There’s a group preparing pitchforks over the idea of someone possibly hurting you by not promising you forever.”
I grinned at her.
“Look what you did, baby. You’ve incited a crowd to violence against us.”
She huffed and finally pushed at Rhett’s hands so he’d put her down.
“I mentioned it in passing last night to the girls. We were drinking and I was… Yeah, I mentioned it but I thought I’d made clear that it was my idea. I’ll fix it.”
“Why do you want this, Maxie? I might not love the idea of these three sharing you but they’re good men. You could do worse.” Turning on me, Mills blew out a rough breath. “Hit me back.”
I shook my head.
“No, for once we’re on the same page. If you can talk some sense into her, I welcome it. She’s convinced she’ll be your mother and she doesn’t want to put a kid through it.”
Maxie glared at me.
“Arlo!”
“Are you serious? Maxie…” Mills rubbed his face, suddenly looking twenty years older. He gently took his sister’s shoulders and leaned down so they were eye to eye. “I’m still coming to terms with what our mom did to you but even still, I know you’ll be a hundred times the mother she ever was. You’re a natural caretaker, Maxie.”
She swallowed and looked away.
“I can’t risk it.”
“Then don’t have kids. These men care about you and they’ve protected you more in a few weeks than I have in all my years. Be with them.”
“They want kids!” Maxie pulled away from him and walked over to Bob, swinging her body up and onto his back with little effort. Bob knew the score. He didn’t wait for her command to take off.
Shep held up his hands.
“We’d take Maxie without kids, you have to know that. This whole idea that she’d be a bad mother is ridiculous, though. She wants kids. She wants a family. She’s just being hardheaded. We’re not letting her go, so she’ll come around eventually.”
Mills rubbed his hands over his head and gripped the back of his neck. Sighing heavily, he watched Maxie riding away with emotion burning behind his eyes.
“I feel like I keep getting sucker punched.”
I snorted.
“Really?”
He blew out a harsh breath.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I’m so fucking high strung these days that I’ve already had two ranch hands quit. Jolene has threatened to murder me a dozen times. I just don’t know what to do. All this shit happened under my nose and my sisters suffered while I treated them like they were just a pain in the ass. Or like they were a servant. Maxie… I don’t know how to make it right. I can barely look at her without fucking hating myself.”
Shep looked at me and then at Rhett.
“You need to let go of some of that shit, man. If you can’t do it on your own, I might have an idea.”
Rhett grunted.
“Black Canyon?”
Shep nodded.
“We visited a place about thirty minutes outside of town a few times back in the day. It’s a club.”
“You’re telling me about a club?” Mills frowned. “Do I look like someone who goes to clubs?”
I shook my head.
“Not that kind of club. It’s a private club, a place for rich assholes to play.”
“Are you talking about a sex club?” Mills looked like he wanted to hit me again.
“You could call it that. The only reason we know about it still existing is that we got an invitation from one of the owners. He heard we were back in town. I’m going to send it to you.” Shep tapped at his phone and then slid it back into his pocket. “It’s for an event that’s coming up this weekend. I suggest you go and work out some of your feelings before coming back here and facing everything.”
“You’re telling me to go to a sex club.” Mills pulled his own phone out and his eyebrows climbed higher. “An auction? Are you serious?”
“Man, you need to live a little. Take your brothers and try to remember what fun is. It’s for charity so you can even bid on our dime.” Shep shrugged. “Go or don’t go. Your choice. Just figure something out before you have a stroke.”
“I came here to yell at the three of you.”
I pointed to my mouth.
“You hit me. Does that help?”
“Fuck, no. I just feel like a bigger asshole. Jesus.” Running his hands through his hair, he swore. “I’ll think about the club. For now, I’m going to stop the riot from heading your way.”
Rhett laughed.
“Let ’em come. We’ll tell them the same thing we told you. Maxie is ours and we’re planning on keeping her forever.”