Page 27 of The Cowboy's Off Limits Option

Rowan rushes me, grabbing me around the waist and taking me back to the ground. I manage to get in a kick to his gut before he can land on top of me though. It sends him stumbling backward and landing on his ass for a change.

"Her grandmother hates you and your brothers!"

Speaking of my brothers, I notice Lance running up the road out of the corner of my eye. He's on his phone, shouting something, but I can't get distracted by that now.

"Allison doesn't even live in the valley anymore," Cal reminds him as she gets herself between us before he has a chance to get his balance back.

"Exactly," Rowan rubs his side where I kneed him earlier. "And her daddy's real proud of the fact that she left and got a fancy job in the city. He don't want her moving back just to marry some cowboy out here and make babies."

"There is nothing wrong with being a wife and mother!" Callie's spitting mad now, standing toe to toe with her brother in a stance that has me thinking I should be more worried about Rowan than myself at the moment. "If that's what she wants."

Cal folds her arms, knocking Rowan in the chest.

"You are not having babies with my best friend, Calla Lillian!"

"Arch? You guys okay out here?" Lance calls from a safe distance at the end of the yard. Up the road, I see one of our side by sides haulin' ass with a dust cloud rising up behind it.

Rowan's stupid enough to have leaned down so he's eye to eye with Cal, because as soon as he tells her she can't have my babies, she clocks him.

Row immediately puts his hand to his cheek and before I can move, she knees him in the balls with a force that's enough to drop Rowan like a sack of grain while me and the two of my brothers who've arrived on the scene involuntary flinch with sympathy pain.

"I'll have babies with whoever the fuck I choose to, RowanElliot!"

The emphasis Callie puts on Row's middle name hurts almost as much as the knee to the balls-- he hates his middle name.

Just to make her point, she kicks his thigh with the toe of her boot-- because Row's still on the ground with his hands locked between his thighs.

"Youidiot!"

The fist landing on my jaw catches me completely off guard.

Chapter Ten

Callie

My brother seems to be in a good position to hear sense, but before I can get past reminding him who's in charge of deciding who my baby daddy's going to be, I hear a sound behind me that I'm not prepared for.

I'm no stranger to the sound of a fight, but Rowan's still on the ground so what the hell is going on behind me?

Whipping around, I see Archer staggering backward with his brother, Gunner, preparing to throw another punch.

"You fucking around with Callie Maye, Archer? She's yourbest friend'slittle sister, for fuck's sake! Not to mention her brother's our feed supplier, you dumbass. You really willing to get us black listed to get your dick wet?"

"Hey!" I charge the older O'Leary brother with every intention of endangering his ability to make babies himself but Rowan pushes me out of the way and decks Gunner instead.

"Talk about my sister that way again and you can bet your ass I'll black list the Delta O!"

Gunner socks Rowan, and casually lifts the brim of his hat in my direction while my brother rubs his jaw.

"Sorry ma'am, no disrespect," he tells me.

I've known all the O'Leary brothers for about ever. Gunner's always been on the gruff side, but he's polite. I know his comment wasn't about me, he's mad at his brother because he doesn't know the whole story.

"It was really Cal?" My brother's looking a little beat up and lot like he'd rather avoid getting hit again. "That you were talking about when you said you were in love?"

He's looking right at Archer Dean now, and so are Archer's brothers.

"Yeah. It's Calla." Archer admits almost shyly. But he's looking at me with half a grin on his gorgeous face. "It's been Cal for years now. Since she got back from her schooling in the city, I reckon."

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