Page 78 of Ride a Cowboy

Lorelie opened her mouth to answer, and then closed it again. Clearly Sadie had stumped her.

Sadie was really interested in hearing Lorelie’s impressions of her entering a relationship with the guys and was tempted to tell her the truth. After all, Lorelie knew Oakley and Joel better than anyone, given the fact they’d worked on the ranch for years. The men treated Lorelie like a little sister, and although Lorelie claimed the protective-older-brother stuff drove her nuts, Sadie suspected the opposite was actually true.

“It’s not that it’s weird or anything. It’s just, you and Joel are very different. I think you and Oakley have more in common. Joel is just so serious and…”

“Stuffy?” Sadie supplied helpfully.

Lorelie considered the answer and then nodded. “Not in an annoying way or anything. I mean it’s not like he’s judgmental or condescending or holier than thou. He’s just…”

Sadie knew what Lorelie meant. She and Oakley were fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants types. They tended to view everything with an off-color irreverence, making fun of stuff that wasn’t really funny, and doing whatever they wanted just because it felt good. Joel wasn’t like that—or at least he hadn’t been until this week, when he’d agreed to something Sadie knew must rub against the grain for him.

Joel played by society’s rules. He was hardworking, well respected. He was the man everyone wanted for a friend because he was just so damn nice. He’d give someone the shirt off his back if they needed it, even if it was the dead of winter, and he took his mother out for lunch every Sunday without fail. It was Joel who had gathered the troops after Coach’s heart attack, calling his former teammates to let them know what was going on. Coach would never have requested help for himself, so Joel had seen to it, made sure his coach had gotten all the support he needed.

Oakley teased him sometimes, called Joel a people pleaser. Sadie admired that in Joel, even if she didn’t totally understand it. Like Oakley, she preferred to live life by her own rules. She refused to make herself miserable just to make someone else feel better. That probably made her a bitch, but it was just the way she was.

“I guess Oakley and I would be a better fit,” she admitted.

“Are you dating Joel?” Lorelie asked.

She’d given her friend the wrong impression. “Oh, no. I’m not dating either of them.”

Lorelie’s brow creased. “So you’re just sleeping with Joel? You know, that doesn’t sound much like him. Always had him pegged as a one-woman man, not the type to engage in sexual flings. Joel’s very much a forever kind of guy.”

Sadie had always thought the same thing. Which was why she’d been very careful to lay out exactly what she wanted from him and Oakley. She didn’t want them to misunderstand or think that she could ever be their girlfriend. That was the beauty of their arrangement. It wasn’t like she was in a serious relationship with both of them. By keeping it purely a sexual thing, she wasn’t in danger of hurting them.

Because she sure as shit wasn’t the commitment type. They could explore all the dynamics of their fun, mind-blowing threesome sex until they got tired of one another and then move on. And the best part was it had been Joel’s idea to end it when it got old.

Not that it was anywhere near getting old. Sadie was starting to think they might actually have a few years’ worth of sexual fantasies to indulge. Which was pretty exciting…and terrifying.

“It’s just sex,” Sadie said with conviction.

“And he’s okay with that?”

Sadie grinned at the tone in Lorelie’s voice. There was a definite warning laced with the question that left Sadie in no doubt Lorelie would kick her ass if she hurt Joel.

Sadie nodded. “Yep. He absolutely is.”

She’d have to tell Joel that Lorelie knew they were sleeping together. She hadn’t planned on revealing anything about them at all, but Sadie could see some benefit to Lorelie knowing at least half of the truth. This way she wouldn’t question it, should Sadie stop by for a late-night visit to the bunkhouse.

“Well, then I’m sorry to break the bad news to you, but Joel headed into town with Oakley to run some errands. Don’t expect them back until later this afternoon.”

“Oh.” Sadie was more disappointed than she cared to admit.

“Walt asked if I had any song requests. I figure you know what gets people dancing at the bar. Besides, my musical preferences run to pop, not country, and I can’t really see Walt and his friend knocking out a few Beyoncé and Taylor Swift songs for me. Want to help me come up with a list?” Lorelie asked.

“Sure,” Sadie said. They spent the next hour creating lists of songs, decoration ideas, and looking up recipes on Pinterest for the food table. The guys hadn’t returned by the time Sadie pulled out of the driveway on her motorcycle. She watched for them the entire time she rode back into town, hoping to pass them on the road and entertaining herself with a fantasy of the three of them getting it on in the back of their pickup truck along the side of the highway.

Sadly, she made it all the way back to her apartment without an Oakley/Joel sighting.

She climbed the three flights of stairs to her place, her libido in overdrive. The men had turned something on inside of her and it was relentless. As she opened the door, she debated between a cold shower or a visit with her vibrator.

The vibrator that had gotten her through the past few months of a sexless existence suddenly didn’t seem quite as inviting. It didn’t hold a candle to all the amazing things Joel and Oakley could do to her body.

“Cold shower it is,” she murmured. She was going to have to call the guys and make plans for a hookup. She hated cold showers.

“Mom at eleven o’clock,” Oakley muttered under his breath as he and Joel got out of the pickup truck.

Joel looked over and saw his mother stepping out of the beauty parlor. She raised her hand and waved. Joel smiled and started to walk toward her, but pulled up short when he realized Oakley was still standing beside the truck.

---