Page 71 of Bedroom Rodeo

Instant anger burned through his system. Damn Hugh and Riggs for their divide-and-question-separately tactic. It was a dick move—and one that they’d hear about when Piers gave them his very loud opinion.

His jaw clenched. “Where is Ash now?”

“I haven’t seen him.”

He might throttle Maggie if he didn’t respect her so much. However, tossing her over his shoulder and throwing her fully clothed into the harbor was an option.

The low growl he let loose had Maggie’s eyes flaring wider.

“Riggs called the meeting in the den.”

Without a word, Piers did an about-face and rushed away from Maggie. Later he’d apologize for being so terse, but now all he could think about was finding Ash and learning what the hell Riggs pulled out of him.

Everybody knew that Ash was the jelly in the donut. If someone squeezed him, he’d squirt under pressure.

With each step he took toward the lodge, Piers laid down another piece of the plan toward leaving The Boot Knockers Ranch. The bosses already knew that Sylvee spoke freely about wanting a baby. Once they learned that he and Ash had broken their contracts to give her that, they’d be terminated.

They did have their rainy-day fund, and Ash was right—it was pouring. They could get work anywhere. He and Ash had enough skill and experience, had worked plenty of odd jobs to keep food in their stomachs and a roof over their heads.

But Sylvee was accustomed to a more upscale lifestyle. She had the big house, the nice car. The closet full of shoes.

This job paid him and Ash enough to live well in their retirement years, but even with both of their savings combined, they couldn’t keep Sylvee in that same lifestyle.

But did she want to be? She was miserable. When he first set eyes on her, he’d experienced a knife to the heart just from seeing the unhappiness etched on her beautiful face.

Over the past few days, they’d changed that. Even though she was stressed about her video call, she still wore a glow and possessed a twinkle in those striking blue eyes.

It’s because of us.

He’d been a Boot Knocker long enough to take pride in what he did. Sexual release wasn’t the only thing he specialized in. Women needed far more, like conversation. Someone to show they cared. Cuddles, stimulation of the mind…and someone to make them laugh.

He was damn good at what he did. When it came to the woman he loved…would it be good enough to persuade her to turn her entire life upside down?

If she was carrying his child—or Ash’s, it didn’t matter—Piers was there for it.

He loved them both, dammit.

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn’t realize what he was seeing.

Ash, walking toward him. Head down, hands in his front pockets, shoulders hunched forward. His hat concealed his face from Piers’s view, but he knew without seeing his expression that his lover was carrying a heavy burden.

This had to be the result of talking to Riggs.

Anger gripped his gut, fresh and hot. He curled his fists, prepared to rip the ice right off a glacier, he was so spitting mad at what Hugh and Riggs had done to not only both of them, but Avril and probably more than a few other Boot Knockers they’d interrogated about sleeping with the office worker.

Of course, they had done good for Jackson by getting him help when they could have left him out in the cold. But did that make up for the rest?

“Ash!” His voice carried on the breeze.

His lover lifted his head and spotted him. He came forward slowly, and they met halfway.

Piers searched his eyes. “What happened?”

“You first.”

He glanced around. While no one was in sight, he didn’t want to be overheard smack-talking the bosses. Hell, that was probably in the contracts too and grounds for termination.

So is flat-out lying to them on the technicality of wording about sleeping with their client without condoms.

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