Betting on Grace (9 page)

Grant Kingsley: Funny guy

Lane Miller: I try

Sexy Cowgirl: I’m not wearing anything.

Oh, Lord. That woman was going to be the death of him.
Lane was tempted to slip out of bed and sneak over to her house, but he knew
he’d have to come right back in just a couple of hours, and he wasn’t
interested in doing the walk of shame twice in one week.

As it was, he longed to spend every single night in
bed with Gracie and Grant. All night long. Truth was, he didn’t want to sleep
alone.

Grant Kingsley: Tease

Sexy Cowgirl: I try

The minutes ticked by, and there weren’t any more
responses, so Lane figured they’d both given in for the night. As he rolled
over, clutching his phone against his chest, he wished like hell that he were
in Gracie’s bed with Grant right there with him.

These lonely nights were beginning to get to him.

Maybe it was time he told the two of them that.

Lane Miller: Goodnight y’all. I love you both.

Lane didn’t bother to keep his eyes open and wait for
a response.

Which was a good thing because one never came
.

The next evening…Wednesday

Grant spent the better part of the day helping Cody
check some of the equipment that had been giving them trouble in recent weeks.
As the ranch foreman, he was used to doing a wide range of jobs, but today, he
had to admit he’d used it as an excuse to hide away for a little while.

To make matters worse, his phone battery was
dwindling, but that was all thanks to his father’s persistent attempts to get a
rise out of him. For the last twenty-four hours, Grant had been fighting
relentlessly with his father. After finding out from Hope that Darrell had been
calling the ranch, Grant had been forced to address the man. Luckily, it had
all been done via text. The arguments… Yeah, well, he was used to those. And
for the most part, he could ignore them. Grant didn’t usually allow those types
of things — insistent demands from Darrell — to interrupt his days, but he’d
received some disconcerting news from his father that he couldn’t seem to
shake.

According to Darrell, Grant’s mother hadn’t yet come
back home. Trying to pry the details from his father was like rounding up
cattle with a cat. It didn’t work, so Grant had tried to call his mother
directly, but he only got her voice mail. Three times.

Now, Grant knew Sandy wasn’t always responsive when he
left her messages, but this was a little out of the norm, even for her. When he
called, her voice mail kicked on immediately, which meant either she had turned
her phone off on purpose or the damn thing was dead. If she was dealing with
the same harassing messages from Darrell that Grant was, he didn’t necessarily
blame her for going off the grid. But he was beginning to worry.

Grant had just clicked on the television when a knock
on his front door had him lifting his head in a half attempt to give the
visitor his attention. “It’s open!” he yelled, dropping his head back down on
the armrest of the small love seat he’d landed on when his legs had given out
on him earlier.

“Hey,” Lane greeted, bringing a ray of the descending
sun with him when he walked in, momentarily blinding Grant.

“Hey,” Grant mumbled, his eyes closed as he flung his
forearm over his face for additional protection.

“What’re you doin’?”

“What does it look like I’m doin’?” Grant countered
without moving an inch.

“Waitin’ for me, from what I can tell.”

Sliding his arm down, he peered up at Lane through
half-open eyes. He didn’t even try to force a smile because he didn’t have
enough energy to do so.

Lane came to stand at the end of the love seat, his
tall, broad frame blocking Grant’s view of the television.

“You’re probably right,” Grant muttered, opening his
eyes fully so he could get a good look at the sexy cowboy standing in his
living room.

He really was happy to see Lane. At this point, seeing
Lane or Gracie was the highlight of every single day, but he was too damn tired
— both mentally and physically — to carry on much of a conversation.

“You know what I need?” Lane asked, his smile morphing
into a very sexy smirk.

“What’s that?” Grant asked, knowing he shouldn’t.
Whatever Lane was thinking was going to require Grant to get up, and he really
wasn’t looking forward to doing that.

“A shower.”

“Of course you do.” Grant’s entire body went hard,
almost instantly. The memory of the last shower they’d taken together was still
fresh in his mind.

“Care to join me?” Lane asked.

Grant knew that Lane had only worded it as a request.
Based on the heated look in Lane’s eyes, if Grant said no — which he wasn’t
even capable of doing, no matter how tired he was — Lane would only push until
Grant gave in.

He figured he might as well save them both some time.

Returning Lane’s grin, Grant dropped his feet to the
floor and sat up. “Lead the way.”

“My pleasure,” Lane said. “Oh, but this time, I want
to watch the expression on your face when I take your dick in
my
mouth.
You all right with that?”

Was he ever.

And probably just as Lane had planned, Grant was on
his feet and practically pushing Lane into the bathroom.

■□■□■□■□

Grace sighed as she dropped into the recliner, her
ears perking up at the sounds coming from the room next door.

Finally.

Hiding out from her sisters had never been one of
Grace’s specialties, although she had tried to perfect the skill over the
years. Tonight, of all nights, Grace had managed to evade Hope and Faith but
not Trinity, which meant she’d only been sidetracked for about an hour while
Trin went on and on about the store. Which was about sixty minutes longer than
she wanted to spend hearing about product placement, new souvenirs, and whether
or not they should add more candy to their already overflowing shelves.
Thankfully, that was over.

For now.

She knew she’d have to have a long talk with all of
her sisters tomorrow because Hope had scheduled an early meeting. Considering
Grace’s day generally started before the sun came up, time was of the essence,
and she was quickly running out of it tonight. Between Trin’s need to bitch and
moan about not having enough help at the store, Faith’s desperate attempt to
ensure all of them understood exactly how much money was coming in versus going
out, and the burr that Hope had in her butt, tomorrow was going to be a very,
very long day.

Grace’s thoughts flitted to the reaction that Ben had had
to Hope while they were at dinner last night. The guy had been transfixed on
Hope. But more surprising was Hope’s reaction to him.

Through the years, Grace and her sisters had dated a
handful of men — probably would’ve been more than just a few, but free time on
the ranch was nearly nonexistent. Still, despite their father’s brutal
reminders that they were off-limits, they had been known to date. But the only
one of them who kept her distance from men at any cost was Hope. No one
questioned her, but after Hope’s answering response to Ben last night, Grace
wanted to. She wanted to bombard Hope with questions, to know exactly what was
going through her head. As for Ben … Grace was pretty sure he was a good guy.
But he was a guest. Which meant he was temporary.

Not that it was any of her business or anything.

But right now, Grace wasn’t worried about her sisters,
or even the impending conversations to come. No, she was just interested in
finishing her dinner.

Sitting in Grant’s recliner, she watched the
television, not really paying any attention to what was on the screen.

She might’ve been fully vested in
Duck Dynasty,
the
show that had been on the television when she’d arrived, had she not been
preoccupied. Nope, her apologies would have to go to the Robertson family for
her lack of interest because the moans and groans coming from the bathroom were
enough to distract her from the best show, and in her humble opinion — crazy as
it may sound — this one was fairly decent.

Not to mention, the two men currently getting hot and
heavy in the shower were igniting a torrent of desire within her without even
realizing it.

When she’d arrived a few minutes ago, three to-go
containers in hand, she’d wanted to surprise Grant. She hadn’t known exactly
where Lane was, but based on their conversation a short while ago when she had
passed him in the stables, she’d hoped he would make his way over to Grant’s
before the night was out.

She wasn’t disappointed.

Clearly, Grant wasn’t, either.

As much as she wanted to interrupt them in the shower
by joining them, she had opted to give them a little time together. She knew
they needed it. Lane had an uncanny effect on Grant, and knowing Grant’s
current mood, leaving the two of them alone would only benefit her in the end.

“Gracie? What the…”

Grace glanced up at the doorway to Grant’s bathroom
and smiled. “Hi.”

“What… What are you doin’ here?” Grant asked, looking
confused and possibly a tad guilty.

“Eating dinner. What are you doin’?” she asked
shamelessly, taking a bite of macaroni and cheese while she admired the nearly
naked cowboy standing in the doorway in nothing but a towel.

God had taken out all the stops when he’d made Grant.
Tall and lean, the man had the perfect amount of muscles — not enough that he
was bulky but plenty to show just how much hard work he put in each day — as
well as a face that could’ve graced one of those sexy men’s magazines if he’d
been inclined to take that route in life. His dark hair was just a little long,
mussed from his shower, and the stubble that lined his prominent jaw made him
appear that much more rugged. From where she sat, she could see the crinkles at
the corners of his magnificent blue eyes, proof that he smiled a lot —
something he wasn’t doing right then, she noted.

“I was…” Grant turned to look behind him, probably at
Lane, if she had to guess, before turning his attention back to her.

“I heard,” she said with a grin, doing her best to
keep her eyes north of his chest, which was a lot harder than it looked. “I
didn’t want to interrupt. You sounded like you were enjoying yourself.”

About that time, Lane came waltzing out of the
bathroom, only he wasn’t wearing a towel. Nope, Lane Miller was wearing nothing
more than a sexy smile, and he looked mouthwatering as he did it. The man’s
confidence level was to be admired. Clothes were merely an accessory to one of
the finest male bodies she’d ever seen. Similar to Grant, Lane was tall, but he
was broader, his muscles a little more honed. He wasn’t necessarily bulky, he
was just … big.

“Hey, doll,” Lane greeted with a smirk, making his way
over to her, his enormous thighs bunching as he moved. “Where’s mine?”

Not that she was looking much at his thighs, but her
eyes were wandering in that general direction, so she saw them, too.

Lane’s deep laugh brought her eyes up toward his face.
He was lifting one dark eyebrow at her, grinning mischievously.

“Huh?” she asked, trying to remember what he’d just
said.

“Where’s mine?” he repeated.

Grace nodded toward the kitchen table, her eyes
continuing to rake over Lane’s impressive form. “On the table,” she said.

“Thanks. I already ate, but I recently worked up one
hell of an appetite,” he said with a rough chuckle, leaning down and kissing
her on the forehead.

Grace returned her gaze to the other cowboy in the
room, still standing in the doorway, looking at her as though she’d lost her
mind.

“Problems?” she asked, taking another bite, pretending
not to be affected by the two very naked men. The skimpy white towel hanging
around Grant’s narrow waist was doing very little to stifle her imagination.

“I … uh…”

“It’s ok,” she told him, knowing exactly what he was
thinking. “I would’ve joined you, but the shower is awfully small.”

“Uh…”

Yep, the guy was at a loss for words, and Grace knew
it was because he was freaked out that she’d walked in on them. It wasn’t like
she didn’t know they were going to be together if she wasn’t there. She didn’t
mind. Well, actually, she would’ve preferred to watch, because holy freaking
hell, they were hot when they were together, as she had learned the first time
she’d stumbled upon them kissing in Grant’s kitchen. And ever since, she’d
purposely snuck glances at the two of them when they were making out. Even
though she was usually there in the middle of it all, she wasn’t naïve enough
to believe that would always be the case.

And they shouldn’t expect that with her, either.

Time was in short supply these days, and, yes, they
were all trying to scratch an itch.

Her included.

“What’re you watchin’?” Lane asked as he made his way
to the other recliner, still as naked as the day he was born. Did the man not
know just what he did to her? It was tough enough to keep her hands to herself
when he was fully clothed, but like that… Lord, she was in trouble.

Remembering that he’d asked a question, Grace darted
her eyes toward the television, hoping to see the end of the
Duck Dynasty
episode, or at least something that she might recognize right then so she’d
have an answer for him. It wouldn’t do for them to think she’d been sitting
there listening to them getting busy in the shower.

That would be too much for their enormous male egos to
handle.

“If I were you, I’d grab some food while you can,”
Lane told Grant, obviously moving past the question that he’d left unanswered.

“Why’s that?” Grant asked, standing there looking back
and forth between the two of them.

“Have you seen her? You’re gonna need your strength to
keep up with this cowgirl. And just so you’re aware, I ain’t waitin’ for you.”

Grace laughed at Lane’s comment. He was watching the
television as though it were the most interesting thing in the world, all while
chowing down
and
mouthing off to Grant.