Page 25 of Claimed By the Cowboys

“I know. I should have been a little more careful. I’ll make the appointment with the fertility doctor?—”

“No,” Tate says.

I frown, looking at him. Tate is normally so bubbly. For him to be so serious is… odd.

Brent clears his throat. “I think what Tate is saying is that’s not necessary. We’ll do whatever you want, Piper. If you think that it’s best to do the… schedule, then we’ll do that. It’s always whatever you need, baby.”

His voice is so low. It’s kind of raspy, and I shiver as it feathers over my skin.

“Hell… yeah. I mean. Yes,” Tate repeats. His voice is low, too.

Looking between the two of them, I feel a little less worried. And a lot more turned on. But I have to make sure I don’t ruin this.

“Listen. I really appreciate it. I’m not sure, but I think that the situation might be… a little more urgent than I’d like, so… yeah. The sooner we can start, the better, I think.”

Tate’s eyes look more sapphire than their usual cornflower. Brent’s are… dark, and his pupils are blown. His hands reach for the schedule that I made, and he pulls it closer. He reads it, then looks up at me sharply. “Next Wednesday?”

“Yeah. Uh. That’s when the, um… time is.” I hate this. I hate being so deliberate about it. I hate saying it. I hate that Dalton isn’t here. “I’ll take Dalton off, for now?—”

“Don’t,” Brent says, the sound kind of strangled. “Don’t. Keep him. I promise, Pipes, he’s fine.”

I’m not so sure.

“You said something about no kissing?” Tate says.

I look over at him. The muscles in his neck are kind of standing out, and he looks… strained.

Quickly, I grab the sheet of paper with my other rules on it. “Yeah. To keep things from getting too weird, I thought we could do no kissing. No like… extra touching. And um. I guess no talking about it?”

Brent grunts.

“Yeah. I mean, I know I just, like, don’t think that it’s something that we need to really be going on and on about, because it’s not something that we can let interfere with our friendship. It’s just for the one… purpose… the thing. You know…” My voice trails off.

The thing. Good job, Piper.

“No kissing,” Brent repeats. His voice is kind of shocked. Like he can’t believe I would suggest that.

“Definitely no kissing. Oh, and if you are seeing someone or you want to start seeing someone, you can totally do that. I won’t be offended. It’s your life, and I don’t want to interfere with it, right?”

It kind of makes my chest hurt to think of any of the guys dating someone new. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any of them dating someone. Ever.

Huh.

“You don’t have to worry about that, Piper,” Brent groans. “Seriously. This is… top priority.”

That makes my face flush. “Brent. Your business is top priority. This is like a side thing.”

“Cows can wait. You’re important, Piper.”

“Thank you,” I murmur. “But I want to make sure that I’m doing my job to help you out, because this is a cool plan?—”

I’m interrupted by the slam of the front door. Dalton is back.

He storms into the room, looking for all the world like he just ran a marathon. His chest is heaving, and his eyes are wild.

The three of us freeze, looking at him. I can see Tate and Brent tense.

Dalton looks down at the schedule, then up at me. “Next week?”

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