Page 29 of Claimed By the Cowboys
“What crawled up your ass and died there?” Dakota laughed, trying to wriggle out of my grip.
“You smell heavily like our new omega nanny. Do I want to know why?” I let go of his collar and took a slug of my beer, not wanting to acknowledge that my professional concerns had begun to give way to my mounting jealousy.
“You’ve always been the bright one, Monty—why don’t you do the math?” Dakota grinned, dusting himself off once he was free from my clutches.
I turned away from him as he helped himself to the beers in the fridge.
“Do you realize how incredibly stupid it is for you to be thinking with your cock when we finally have some help here on the ranch, especially when it’s a nanny Maisie actually likes?”
“Did Daddy not explain it to you when we were younger? When an alpha and an omega have those funny feelings in their pants, and you start to get that big bump down at the bottom of your—” Dakota teased.
I slammed my beer down on the counter before grabbing a cookie to shove in Dakota’s mouth just to stop his yapping.
“You taste that?” I challenged as he made a sound of delight, munching away on the distraction cookie. “You remember the last time we were all done with dinner and bath-time and putting Maisie down to bed to have a bit of free time before midnight?”
I gestured wildly around me, a flash of understanding twinkling in the corner of Dakota’s eyes as he began to shake his head, slightly bewildered.
“If you end up ruining a good thing just to get your dick wet?—”
“Nobody’s lookin’ to ruin anything,” he cut in. “I’m just following what my heart tells me. I haven’t so much as given a second glance to a girl in years.”
“Yeah, following yourheart—I bet that’s what you’re following,” I snorted, even as Dakota began to puff up his chest in protest. “She’s just lookin’ for a good time! A little side action while she figures out her next move,” I pressed, a worried look beginning to turn down the corners of Dakota’s mouth.
I thought I was really getting through that thick skull of his when Zeke popped up from nowhere, draping his massive frame over our shoulders conspiratorially as he dropped his big blond head right between us.
“What are you two buttin’ heads about over here?” He grinned lazily, giving us both a once-over before he noticed thehalf-eaten cookie in Dakota’s hand. “Ooh! A cookie!” he said before plucking it from his hand and scarfing the thing down whole.
As Zeke licked the crumbs from his fingers, an intense wave of Piper’s honeysuckle scent against the fruity tang of Zeke’s prickly pear crashed over me, and my fury intensified.
“If Kota had a little stink on him, you reek like a goddamn honeysuckle omega fuck bush!” I blurted, my words barely making sense in my rage.
Zeke just blinked dumbly at me. “Uh, what’s a fuck bush?”
I buried my face in my hands, shrugging out from under Zeke’s arm. “You two can’t possibly be this eager to fuck things up with the new nanny when our situation is just starting to improve,” I scolded, pacing angrily around the island to put some distance between myself and those horny knuckleheads.
“It was less fuckingup—more her riding,” Zeke interjected with another goofy grin, and it was all I could do not to wipe that smile right off his face.
“Turns out the hay pen in the stables is very comfortable when the right blanket is involved.” His eyebrows moved in a suggestive golden wave before he lifted his arm from Dakota’s shoulder and stooped down into the fridge.
I took several deep, calming breaths as I listened to Zeke close the fridge and saunter into the living room.
I faced Dakota. “All I can tell you is, this is a bad idea. This girl couldn’t even tell you and me apart. She thought I was you when I met her at Evelyn’s. She doesn’t care about you or us.” Finally, I had said it.
“I don’t know, Monty, that’s not really fair. She didn’t even know that there were two of us before she met you at Evelyn’s. I think she’ll surprise you.” Dakota eyed me as I grabbed my beer, no longer interested in joining my brother or the rest of my pack mates for TV time.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” I mumbled under my breath as I skulked from the kitchen. If no one would listen, I would need to show them.
Chapter 15
Piper
Ihad lucked out getting the job working for the Blackwood Pack—with each passing day I was starting to enjoy ranch life more and more. I had woken up early and made a batch of coffee as Maisie sat on the counter next to me, stirring a bowl of pancake batter.
Chocolate chip pancakes, bacon and eggs, breakfast sandwiches, and more. I may have gone slightly overboard, but I would rather have made too much than too little.
We were halfway through the second batch of pancakes when Clayton entered the kitchen.
“Good morning,” I chirped, determined to remain friendly, even if he acted like a bit of an ass. “You working on the ranch today?”
