Page 23 of Claimed By the Cowboys

It sounds like it fucking sucks, but I’m not about to say that.

“Wait, you started without me?” Brent asks, breezing into the living room.

I glare at him. He looks… clean. Nice jeans, nice shirt. Not covered in horse and sweat like I am.

Shit. I should have showered. I bet Piper is thinking that I’m such a slob.

“We didn’t do much. I was just reviewing some marketing ideas,” Piper says. She leans back, and I can tell that she wasn’t nervous for that part. But she is nervous for this one. “I… um… wanted to talk about the other stuff, too.”

Brent, Tate and I look at each other. Brent sits next to Piper on the couch.

“Like what?” he prompts.

Piper sucks in a huge breath. “I think I want to make sure that there are some… rules.”

“Rules?” Tate clarifies. I don’t miss the note of disappointment in his voice.

Hell, I’m disappointed, too.

“Look, I’d never want to lose you all as my friends. Your friendship means the world to me. And I kind of figure that we can like… keep that, you know? Still be friends. Who have a baby together,” she says.

The guys and I exchange a look again. I think all of us are just damn tired of hearing Piper say that she only wants to be friends, but…

Fuck. What’s the alternative? Not having her around? Fuck that.

“So anyway. We have some options. We could be very… clinical and go to the sperm bank in Helena for a… donation,” she stammers.

Fuck. That.

“Or,” she says in a rush, “we could just try to do it the old-fashioned way first.”

I blink. Clearly, Brent is on the same page as me, because he leans forward, his hands on his knees. “The old-fashioned way?”

Piper nods.

“Piper. When you say the old-fashioned way, do you mean, like, sex?” Tate asks.

She nods again. I think we all take a minute to process what she’s saying, because the room is so silent, I can hear everyone breathing hard. Then, she screws her pretty green eyes shut and starts talking.

“Look, I’d want to make sure that there’s nothing too intimate so we can stay friends. Like no kissing or anything. But um… it might be easier, and cheaper, than the clinical way.”

Shit. Shit. Fuck me.

My mind is tripping over all of Piper’s words.Old-fashioned way.I’m barely able to listen to her next words, my mind is in such a dirty place. Eventually, though, I manage to get my shit together enough to listen to her.

“And I don’t want you to like… well, I can’t pick just one of you,” Piper says. The blush rising in her cheeks is fucking adorable, and the fact that she can’t open her eyes is…

Well. Not adorable, but I can’t fucking think because I’m thinking about how it looks so good spreading across her cheeks.

“I don’t want this to be something that gets weird, and I can’t pick one of you. So um. I made this.” She unfolds a piece of paper with shaking hands.

Brent leans forward, then up at Piper. “Is this a schedule?”

“You know, it’s actually like weirdly not as easy to get pregnant as people think it is. Because you only have like twelve hours every month where it’s like, an option, so the timing hasto be kind of good, and you can see that around those three days, um, I put you in each. For one day,” she murmurs.

Fucking hell.

“Piper. You made us a sex schedule?” Tate says.

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