His eyes warmed.

“You have three men in this hotel suite who’d fight over who got to her first to shove her back to hell.”

I studied him while I brushed my teeth and saw he was doing the same to me. Something felt different.Ifelt different. There was something about deciding to take life by the horns, even if I’d made the decision while drunk, that made me feel stronger. I had more of a plan for my life than ever before. I was going to have lots of sex with the men I lived with, give them a baby, and then move on. It sounded so easy and mess-free when I thought of it like that. Without being tied to either ranch, I would be able to go wherever I wanted after having their child. I’d never thought about going anywhere and I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of leaving but maybe it would grow on me.

It would have to. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay in Devil’s Den and watch the family I’d never have grow without me. No,once I had the baby, I’d have to leave. There was no other way I’d survive.

“How about we get breakfast before we get on the road?”

I frowned.

“You don’t want to…”

“Want to what?” Shep grinned as he watched me blush and motion to my body with both hands. “Fuck you?”

I nodded. I’d made myself clear the night before. I’d give them their babies. That meant sex.

“How else am I supposed to get pregnant?”

He tilted his head and his eyebrows pinched together. Before he could say anything, Arlo groaned his way into the bathroom and frowned when he saw us.

“Unless you both want to watch me piss, you should go.”

I started to slip off the counter but Shep didn’t budge. He held my gaze as he grasped my chin.

“You should see part of what you’re getting yourself into.”

He turned my face towards Arlo and gripped my thigh with his other hand, sending sparks of electricity to my core. I wanted to look away, embarrassed about the idea of watching Arlo do something that felt so private. Never in my life had I considered the act of watching someone else pee. I was curious, though. Ididwant to see Arlo. I’d wanted to since I first felt him harden against my thigh ten years earlier.

Arlo reached through the flap of his boxer briefs and pulled his shaft out, his big, tan hand taking away nothing from the size of his dick. My mouth fell open. It was alarmingly big. I was also alarmingly interested in it. The veins running the length of it, the pretty pink color of it, the bulbous head… I wanted to get closer and see how it felt to the touch. It looked like velvet from where I sat.

I tried to press my thighs together to ease the sudden ache between my legs but Shep was in the way. I shifted on thecounter and gasped when Arlo started peeing. I flushed hot and tried to look away. It was too private. I wasn’t supposed to see that.

Shep leaned in and pressed his mouth against the side of my face while his hand on my thigh moved closer to my sex.

“We’re all big men, baby. Are you sure you’re in a hurry to start this? Are you going to be comfortable walking out of this hotel looking like you just rode a horse for forty days and forty nights straight? Or would you rather we wait until we get home to spread you out and eat you whole?”

I whimpered when one of his fingers brushed against me through my pajama bottoms. I didn’t know what I wanted. I was on fire. I couldn’t even remember what cold felt like.

“When you scream for us, I don’t want another soul to hear it. No one else gets to hear that. Just us.” Arlo flushed and then walked closer to wash his hands. He glanced down and saw Shep’s finger brushing back and forth over me and smiled. “Although I think we could give you something to put in your mouth to keep you quiet.”

I squeaked. It wasn’t my best look but I was suddenly very nervous and the idea of losing my virginity in a hotel no longer sounded right.

“Home.”

Shep scooped me off the counter and growled.

“Let’s go.”

CHAPTER 29

Maxie

The ride back to the ranch was silent. It was as if we’d all decided that any more talking was just useless sound. We all knew what we wanted and we were on our way to make it happen. Sitting in the back with Rhett, I was a ball of nervous energy. Seeing Arlo had shown me that I was definitely in over my head but I was determined. I wanted them. I was ready to shed some of the old Maxie, the one curated to please my mother. I wanted to pleaseme.

I kept my eyes down as we drove through Devil’s Den. I didn’t want to see anyone or anything that would creep in and make me doubt what I was about to do. And I was about to do it. I didn’t care that my hands shook or that I was pretty sure my body would never recover after taking Arlo inside. I was ready for them. I’dbeenready for them. It was time for me to do what eighteen-year-old Maxie had been bold enough to want.

As soon as Arlo parked the truck I jumped out and hurried up to the porch. Stopping at the front door, I looked back over my shoulder and saw the three of them approaching me like three starving wolves. A streak of fear tore through me but it somehow enhanced the arousal building in me. The anticipation was nearly suffocating.