Page 64 of Claimed By the Cowboys
“Fine, fine, I’ll go—because if I don’t, you won’t let me live it down for weeks.” Clay scoffed a laugh, cuffing me on the shoulder as he led me down to the stable.
We had barely begun closing up for the night, Clay crouched low behind one of the stalls to scoop feed into buckets for the horses when Dakota came careening around the corner, a wild shine in his eyes and Piper’s sweet honeysuckle scent pouring off him in waves.
Before I could stop him, he blurted out, “And that’s another one for yours truly—I have officially taken the lead.” He hopped the wooden stall gate easily to the center post.
I opened my mouth to warn him, but his pocketknife was already in hand, the short, stubby blade flashing as he flicked it open, its gleaming point carving a third tally neatly beneath the initial “D” carved into one face of the center post.
“The first time with Monty, the bonding, and just now, in the shower,” Dakota boasted.
“What in the hell is going on here?” Clay boomed, appearing from behind the next stall over, his face pinched with a sour expression.
Dakota jumped in surprise but quickly recovered, folding his pocketknife back together and spiriting it away.
“Oh, we’re uh—just being silly!” he laughed innocently. “Boys being boys and all that.” Dakota did his best to casually lean against the tally post, covering any evidence of our tomfoolery.
“Do you two think I’m stupid?” Clay snorted, coming around to the post and pushing Dakota out of the way. “This has got to be the most juvenile shit I’ve ever seen.” He laughed, shaking his head as he took in the first two faces of the four-sided post—the letter Z, along with my two tallies on the first side, an uppercase D with three tallies below on the second.
“Don’t tell me—Montana too?” Clay stepped back, incredulous as he took in the sight of the M with two tallies beneath.
“I expected this kind of behavior from you two idiots, but not from Monty.” He scrubbed a hand over his chin thoughtfully before looking to the blank face of the post.
His expression shifting, Clay moved his fingers absently as his eyes stayed fixed on the smooth, blank space of wood.
“Listen, Clay, we didn’t mean nothin’ by it,” Dakota began, preparing to repent.
Before Dakota could get another word out, Clay was at the wood post, his own pocketknife in his hand, marking a C into the previously blank face of the post, and adding two proud tallies beneath his initial.
“Not a fair contest if you don’t tally all the competitors,” he grunted out under his breath. “Enjoy that lead, Kota—it ain’t gonna last for long,” Clay challenged, a glimmer in his eye.
While I had no need for dick measuring with the guys in the barn—as my meat was by far the most massive, even if Clay did have the biggest knot and the most add-ons to his natural factory equipment with that Jacob’s ladder of his—I was eager to earn my third tally all the same.
I had never turned away from a little healthy competition, but my motivations for “winning” this contest had more to do with Piper than my desire to claim the title of champion.
Montana was still on Maisie patrol—sitting cross-legged on the floor in the living room, taking “tea” with Maisie and a host of stuffed animals and plastic ponies—and didn’t even noticeme as I slipped past them, my hair still dripping wet from the shower.
In the golden light of sunset, Piper stood on the wooden steps between the sliding door to the kitchen and the small patio and grill space outside.
I followed her gaze to the rippling line of mountains on the horizon, purple shadows against the vibrant reds and oranges of the dying daylight.
“Well, ain’t that the prettiest sight in the world?” I sighed, drifting in behind her, my hands finding the pinch of her waist, my lips pressed to the shell of her ear.
“Yeah, it’s beautiful. So many colors, and the sun looks like liquid gold.”
“I was talking about you, but the sunset isn’t half bad, either,” I teased, leaning down to kiss her neck.
“Oh, please, you’re a sweet talker, Zeke,” Piper giggled, leaning back into me, her eyes still fixed far away.
“Nuh-uh, not even.” I spun her around to face me, taking her chin gently between my thumb and forefinger as I tipped her face up toward me. “I’ll tell you every day till you understand just what a beauty you are, Pipes,” I protested earnestly before planting a kiss on her lips.
“Hmmm, and what about you, Zeke? You’re quite the pretty boy yourself,” she purred, pressing up on her tiptoes to get another kiss—this time, with little velvety touches of our tongues swirling against one another.
“I am more than happy to hear what you think about some of my finer qualities,” I rumbled back mischievously, helping her hands beneath the hem of my T-shirt, those tender fingers exploring the well-defined ridges and lines of my abdominal muscles.
“Yes, you really have quite a lot of things going for you.” Piper sighed dreamily as I helped guide her backward with me towardthe patio glider, her hands traveling lower toward the buckle of my belt.
“You don’t say,” I urged her on, my hands sliding over the cool fabric of her sundress at her hips, moving back over the curve of her pelvis until I was cupping the high, round cheeks of her ass, pulling her against me.
“Not to mention your absolutely massive—”she paused meaningfully for a moment as she ran her hand down the bulge in the front of my jeans“—heart.”She giggled, giving my throbbing knot a good squeeze through the straining fabric.
