Cowboy Double-Decker (32 page)

“All three are staying. Permanently.” For once Bryan had the chance to string Adam along, and he was going to milk it for everything he could.

“Three? There’s Kaela, Scotty and who else? You?”

“Nope.”

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Reece Butler

“Who, then?”

“Don’t know yet.”

Adam grabbed his shoulder, pulled him around, and pushed his back against the wooden wall. “Tell me what the hell is going on before I bust your gut with my fist,” he hissed.

Bryan just grinned at him.

“Damn, you know I can’t punch you out in the barn. But later on, you’ll pay for this.”

“Can’t figure it out, huh?”

Adam stepped back. “Kaela agreed to marry you.” He waited for Bryan’s nod. “You’re going to adopt Scotty.”

Another nod. Adam picked his mug up again. Stared at it.

“You didn’t make the coffee before you went out. The first one up always makes the coffee.”

“Except when?” Bryan lifted his eyebrows and shook his head, hands out in a “duh” motion.

“Except when Candy was...” Adam’s jaw dropped. He snapped it shut and swallowed. “Kaela’s pregnant?”

“Took you long enough, you sorry bastard.”

“How?”

“Geeze, how the hell do you think?”

Adam slapped the side of Bryan’s head before he could duck.

“Ow!” Bryan rubbed his head. The pain was nothing more than a sting. He’d take a lot more for the fun of making Adam lose it.

“Do I have to beat it out of you?”

“Remember that night in Missoula when you asked me for a condom so you could do Candy in the swing?”

“Remember the swing,” Adam grinned. “Don’t remember you.”

“I’d just exploded inside Kaela, totally forgetting about protection until your question. Turns out my fiancée is a fertile little rabbit.” He couldn’t help feeling smug. He was two-for-two, missing a condom only once with Candy on purpose and once with Kaela by a blessed mistake.

Cowboy Double-Decker

247

“When?”

“November, just like the twins.”

“And the wedding?”

Bryan shook his head. “You think I have any say in that when there’s two women involved?”

“Right,” said Adam, nodding. “Remember the fuss Candy made over what could have been a five minute stop at the courthouse?”

“Exactly.”

Adam gathered both empty mugs and turned to go.

“Don’t forget to act surprised when Candy tells you her news about Kaela,” said Bryan.

Adam turned back. “You trying to tell an old married man how to keep his wife happy?”

“She’s been like a wife to me, too, boyo. So, yes.”

“And now I’ll be sharing
your
wife.” Adam sauntered off, a spring in his step.

“Watch it, you horny bastard,” called Bryan. Adam gave him the finger and sped up, heading straight for the house.

Bryan led his horse outside, tightened the girth, and rose into the saddle. He left the house with Kaela zonked out in their bed. Between the relief of knowing she’d be staying where she and Scotty were loved and the exhaustion of weeks, even years of worry, he figured she’d sleep most of the day. Adam might push his buttons, but he wouldn’t intrude between a man and his fiancée.

Unless invited, of course.

Bryan sat tall, left hand lightly holding the reins. A slight lip twitch was the only sign of the erotic fantasy he began planning as he rode. The wind whipped around him, but Kaela’s heat would keep him warm for some time.

She’d be there with Scotty, waiting for him to return.

A heavy weight lifted from his shoulders as he rode across the land. His family’s land. Four loving adults and their children, carrying on the traditions of six generations.

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Reece Butler

THE END

http://www.sirenpublishing.com/reecebutler/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I work full time, commuting to the city from our few acres of rocks, meadow and trees where we’ve lived for over twenty years. I have a wonderful husband and two near-grown sons who do a lot to keep our family going, allowing me to pursue my second career, of writing.

The other two members of the family, the cat and dog, prefer to interfere. The cat stomps on my character and plot charts and the dog insists I’d be far better off going for a walk than sitting for six hours straight at my computer.

As to where I get my ideas, characters and their situations create themselves, emerging from the back of my brain where everything I read, see or experience percolates. When I sit down to write, what happens is beyond my conscious control.

I hope you enjoy the result.

Also by Reece Butler

Cowboy Sandwich

Available at

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Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com