Page 9 of Theirs to Keep

“Fuck, twenty-two?” he shouted. Regan nodded, not understanding why Jamison seemed so upset. “Honey, I’m thirty-eight and that makes me sixteen years older than you.” He groaned and ran his hands over his facial stubble. She still wasn’t following why he was mad at her.

“I don’t see why our age difference matters, Jamison. It’s just a number and that doesn’t matter to me.” She tried to wrap her arms around him, but he pushed her away, leaving her feeling empty and dejected. Ash pulled her into his arms and kissed the back of her head.

“He’s just being an ass, baby. Give him time and he’ll come around,” Ash whispered into her ear. She felt the tears pool in her eyes, and she knew that crying wasn’t going to help her cause.

“I also wasn’t completely honest about my culinary training,” she croaked. Regan knew that if she didn’t get it all out now, she might never tell them the truth. She wasn’t willing to start a new relationship with them based on lies. “I learned to cook at a local diner that I worked at. The owner, Pete, was a friend of my mom’s. After she died he kind of took me under his wing andtaught me to cook.” Ash tightened his arms around her, and she was so thankful for him. Jamison stood at the back door with a murderous look on his face. She was afraid that her lies might have just caused her to lose him and that thought tore her apart. Regan wanted both of them if Jamison walked away, would Ash change his mind about her too?

“I’m so sorry that I lied but I was desperate. I had nowhere to live, and no money left. I was sleeping in my pickup, and I wasn’t eating. That’s why I passed out yesterday, well that and I was exhausted. I didn’t do it to trick you guys into hiring me and I had no idea that what happened last night was even a possibility,” she sobbed, giving up on the fight to keep her tears at bay.

“We need to get out to the barn, Ash. It’s time to feed the cattle.” Jamison pulled on his boots and slammed the back-screen door as he left, not even glancing back at her. Watching him leave nearly broke her heart.

Ash turned her in his arms and pulled her tight. “He’ll come around, baby. He just needs to calm down, give him some time.” She let another sob escape. How could she have been so stupid, lying on her job application? “You should have told us Regan, but I get it. I’m so glad that you landed on our doorstep, baby.”

“I’ll be all right, Ash. You need to go out and help Jamison. I have plenty to keep me busy before you all come back in for lunch.” Ash eyed her suspiciously and released her. He kissed her cheek and headed out the back door after Jamison.

Regan sunk into a kitchen chair and buried her face in her hands. She wasn’t sure what her next step was going to be, the only thing she knew was that she didn’t want to lose either one of her men. She’d just have to find a way to make Jamison forgive her, it was the only way to stay with both of them.

Jamison

Regan lied, she fucking lied and that was the one thing that he wouldn’t stand. He grabbed the keys to the gator and just about made his escape when Ash came barreling into the barn with a murderous expression on his face. Of course, he would take Regan’s side in all of this, he was pretty sure that his best friend was already ass over tea kettle for her.

“You made her cry, Jamison. You need to go back in there and make this right because I’m not willing to let her go just because you are hung up on a number. That’s all age is—a number. She doesn’t care how old you are why should you care that she’s a few years younger than she originally told us?” Jamison didn’t want to talk about any of this right now. He just wanted to get on the tractor and pull in the cattle from the field, but he knew Ash enough to know that he wasn’t going to let it go.

Jamison sighed, trying to find his control. “She lied to us, man. She took our job and didn’t come clean until she spent the night between us. How can you stand there and defend her?” Ash crossed the barn to stand face-to-face with Jamison and for a split second, he was sure that his friend was going topunch him in the jaw. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time an argument had come to blows between the two of them.

“She was in a bad situation, you heard her. She was living with that sleazy stepfather of hers after her mom died. Regan was looking to get out of there any way that she could. I’m happy that she landed on our doorstep and not dead in a ditch somewhere because no one cared for her. Would you have given her a second look if you knew that she was only twenty-two?” Jamison thought about it and fuck, Ash was right. He wouldn’t have agreed to hire her no matter how gorgeous she was in her profile picture. He would have told Ash to forget it and find someone else.

“No, I would not have considered hiring her let alone agree to make her ours. Sixteen fucking years is a big age difference. Hell, I could drive a car by the time she was born.” Ash smirked, and Jamison knew that he was going to say something that would completely piss him off.

“Don’t say whatever you were thinking, Ash. From that goofy crooked grin on your face, I’m betting that you’re going to be a complete smart ass and it’s going to just piss me off even more.” Ash laughed and clapped Jamison’s shoulder.

“So, no jokes about you being a grumpy old man or anything like that? Got it.” Ash sighed and looked down at his boots. “I like her Jamison. I want her to stick around and hell, I want her to be ours. But I won’t do anything without you, and judging from last night, neither will she. It’s the three of us or none of us, that’s the deal.” Ash waited him out, the hopefulness on his face nearly did Jamison in.

“Keep in mind that we haven’t been entirely honest with Regan either. If she finds out that we hired her based on her profile picture and the fact that we both wanted to fuck her before she even got to our house, she’ll turn tail and run backhome.” Dammit, he hated when Ash made a good point and made sense.

“There is no fucking way that she will ever go back home to that asshole stepfather of hers. I won’t allow it; I’ll take her over my knee first.” The thought of pulling Regan over his lap and spanking her ass red made his cock stand at attention. There was no way that he would let her go now, he wanted her too much to walk away.

“Fine, I’ll apologize to her tonight when we take her out to dinner.” Ash’s face split with his killer smile that all the ladies in town went crazy for. Jamison growled and jumped on the gator. “Tell Regan that I won’t be in for lunch, I have to go over to Gentry’s farm and see if he’ll make us a deal on that little piece of land he wants to sell. It would be the perfect place to put a pond in for the cattle.”

“Or skinny dipping,” Ash yelled over the engine. Jamison flipped him the finger and drove off and fuck, now he was thinking about going skinny dipping with Regan Starr.

Regan

Regan tore the kitchen completely apart, reorganized it, and put everything away before seven-thirty in the morning. She knew that she was working with pent-up nervous energy, but she’d used it to her advantage. What she needed was a nap. She was bone-tired from traveling and the guys didn’t let her sleep much during the night. But she was too worried about Jamison not forgiving her to even sit down for two minutes. Regan not only had to convince him that she was mature enough to handle the job but also him and Ash in bed together.

When Jamison left the farmhouse earlier she was sure that it would be the last time she would ever see him. Ash had come back in to tell her that Jamison wouldn’t be coming back for lunch and her stomach dropped. She knew that lying on her application would catch up to her, she just didn’t know that she would have so much to lose. If they had just turned her away yesterday when she showed up on their doorstep, this would have been a whole lot easier. But then they showed her just how good it could be living in this big, old house with the two of them and sleeping tangled up with them in her bed. Walking awaynow was going to hurt like hell, but she was afraid that was just what Jamison was going to ask her to do.

Regan rummaged through the pantry and came up with a list of groceries. If they were going to give her the boot, the least she could do was stock their fridge. She took Jamison’s truck and ran into town because he was right; she wouldn’t be able to stack grocery bags on the back of her bike. She decided to stop at a little boutique that she spied on her way into town yesterday. They had some cute clothes, although using the guy’s money to add to her bare-bones wardrobe felt wrong, she also knew that she needed a few things; especially if she was going to be job hunting again.

“Can I help you find your size?” A young salesclerk found her in the clearance section, looking through jeans.

“I’m not sure what my size even is, it’s been so long since I’ve been shopping. I’m looking for a pair of jeans and a couple of nice shirts but I’m on a budget.” The salesgirl smiled and nodded.

“We all are honey. It’s hard to stay up with the latest trends and not spend a small fortune.” Regan smiled at her, not wanting to tell her that she couldn’t care less about the latest fashion trends.

“I haven’t seen you around here before. You new in town?” Regan nodded again, not sure how much to say.

“I work out at Travers Black Farm; I’m the new cook.” Regan didn’t miss how the salesgirl’s smile fell flat at the mention of the farm.

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