Page 81 of Ride a Cowboy

Oakley slapped Joel on the back. “And that, my friend, is why I moved as far away from my folks as I could. Doesn’t matter how old you get. Parents are always going to stick their noses in your business.”

“Nelson Milligan is going to murder us. Painfully,” Joel said matter-of-factly.

“Oh yeah. That’s a given.” Then Oakley grinned widely. “But you know what? It’ll totally be worth it.”

That one line told Joel everything he needed to know. There wasn’t going to be an easy resolution to what they’d begun. Oakley was as smitten with Sadie as Joel was.

This wasn’t good.

Oakley had just finished unloading the truck when his cell phone rang. He grinned as Sadie’s name popped up on the screen.

“Hey, gorgeous.”

“Hi, Oak.” The sound of her voice made him feel good all over. He’d been floating on this cloud of nonstop happiness since the wedding. Making a big enough jackass of himself that Coach had called him out for it this morning when he’d caught Oakley leaning on his pitchfork, his thoughts a million miles away and a goofy grin on his face. Coach had told him to get his head out of ass and pay attention to what he was doing.

Oakley figured that was easier said than done. He couldn’t go two seconds without reliving some part of his time with Joel and Sadie. He was happier than he’d ever been in his life.

“What’s up?”

“I was at the ranch earlier.”

Oakley was instantly disappointed he’d missed her. “What for?”

“I’m helping Lorelie plan the after-party for Homecoming. We worked out the alcohol list. I was hoping to run into you and Joel and Woody in the barn.”

His cock rose at the sexy tone. “Damn, sweetheart. I wish you’d told us you were coming. We could have postponed our trip to town.”

“My fault. I was hoping to surprise you. Believe me, I won’t make that mistake again.”

He chuckled. Woman had a sex drive that rivaled his. Which was scary considering he thought about sex approximately every three seconds.

“By the way, Lorelie knows I’m sleeping with Joel.”

Oakley frowned. “Just Joel?”

“Yeah. It was a weird conversation. She could tell something was up by the way I kept looking outside for you guys. One thing led to another and she figured out there was some sex going down.”

“Why would she think you were with Joel?”

“She guessed it was you at first, but I was trying to put her off the trail. She said something about how you never sleep with the same person twice, so if I was there looking, it must be for Joel. I realized I was being dumb to play it off completely. If she thinks I’m sleeping with one of you, she won’t question it if my bike is parked outside your bunkhouse one night. Or several nights.”

It was a good idea, but there was something about Lorelie thinking Sadie was just with Joel that rubbed him wrong. He knew he’d always given off a vibe of carefree Oakley, the guy who never settled down, but that wasn’t for lack of desire. He’d always hoped to find someone and get married. Or at least someone to cohabitate with for the rest of his life. He was starting to resent that everyone thought he was a bad bet—Joel’s mom, Sadie’s dad, Lorelie. Maybe even Sadie and Joel.

The thought of those last two stung the most.

“That’s probably a good idea,” he said begrudgingly. “Ran into your pop today.”

“Oh shit. What happened?”

Oakley climbed the three steps to the porch of the bunkhouse and sank down on one of the two rocking chairs there. The bunkhouse was small, built at the same time as the ranch house. It wasn’t a huge spread, but it was big enough to keep them busy. It had been a shit ton of work when it had been him, Joel, and Coach. Since Coach’s heart attack and recovery, the only thing keeping the ranch going was Joel’s former teammates. If not for them, he and Joel would have been working twenty-four-seven.

“Let’s just say no blood was shed. Yet.”

Sadie groaned. “Dammit. Asshole cabbie came to pick up a drunk at Cruisers last night. Started running his mouth about dropping the three of us off at my place. I told my dad—and the driver—to mind their own business. I thought that had taken care of it. How bad was it?”

“It was a show. Especially when Joel’s mom hopped in.”

“She was there?”

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