Page 127 of Knot Your Problem, Cowboy
Her gaze catches mine, something soft and certain in it. “I feel the same,” she whispers. “And today… for now… everything’s perfect.”
For now.The words stick in my head even as she takes another mouthful of cake and smiles like the weight is finally off her shoulders. I should just enjoy it, let the laughter around us carry me, but I can’t help wondering exactly what she means byfor now.
23
CASH
The truck rumbles along the road back to the ranch, windows cracked just enough to let in the afternoon air. The radio plays something low and country, that new Chris Stapleton song Walker’s been obsessed with lately. I keep stealing glances at Sophia in the passenger seat as I drive, watching how the sunlight catches the red in her hair, turning it to fire.
She’s been quiet since we left the café, but it’s clear she’s still processing everything in the way she drums her fingers against her thigh. Her gaze is fixed somewhere far beyond the windshield, and she’s distracted, almost worried.
“Everything okay?” I ask, glancing at her, keeping my voice low enough to not make it sound like an interrogation.
She exhales. “Ronan,” she says finally, her voicetight. “Rose’s grandson. He cornered me today in an alley in town. Said I didn’t belong here or deserve the ranch. That things were being… fixed for me to leave town soon.” She swallows, her hands curling in her lap. “He grabbed me by the throat. Wouldn’t let go.”
Everything in me goes molten-hot in an instant. My hands tighten around the steering wheel until the leather creaks. Behind me, the air in the truck shifts, and Walker and Ridge both go deathly still, the kind of still that only means trouble for whoever is on the receiving end.
I keep my eyes on the road, but my jaw is locked so hard it aches. “He put his hands on you?”
Her gaze flicks to mine, and it’s the faint tremor there, the quick flash of uncertainty, that takes my fury and sharpens it into something lethal.
“Yeah,” she says quietly. “And I didn’t know what he meant, about… fixing things. But I believed him when he said he could make me leave. It… scared me.”
I glance at her again and see that fear she’s trying to hide, but I notice the way she keeps her shoulders tight, her voice smaller than normal.
“Not fucking happening,” Ridge says from the back. “Not today. Not ever.”
Walker leans forward between the seats, his eyes like dark steel. “We’ll handle Ronan, gorgeous. Don’t you worry.”
“Handle?” I growl. “I’ll bury him if he so much as looks your way again.” My free hand leaves the wheellong enough to press against her thigh, grounding her, grounding me. “You’re ours. That means you don’t walk alone, not until this is sorted. He comes near you again, you tell us. Immediately. You have my word,ourword, Sophia, that he’ll regret even breathing your name.”
Her lips twitch in the smallest, weary smile. “I hate to say it, but that makes me feel better.”
“It should,” Ridge mutters. “He doesn’t know what he’s just signed up for.”
“Because it’s three on one,” Walker says. “And we don’t lose when we’re protecting what’s ours.”
She nods, some of the tension in her shoulders loosening, and for a moment, I let myself breathe, though the fury is still coiled tight inside me.
Then she shifts in her seat with a little groan. “Oh, crap, I never made it to the drugstore. I need more suppressants. I only had the one I already took and?—”
“You don’t need them,” Walker pipes in.
She turns to look at him. “Pretty sure I do, unless you want me going into full heat in the next day or two.”
“You have us,” I say. “We’re the natural remedy for your heat. That’s how it’s supposed to work—Alphas helping their Omega through it.”
“Suppressants just make it worse anyway,” Ridge explains from the back in a matter-of-fact way. “They delay the heat, build it up. When the inevitablehappens, the ache and hunger are sharper, harder to control. More painful.”
Sophia exhales through her nose, the corner of her mouth pulling down. “I know. I can already feel it more this time, like my skin is too tight. Every sound, every smell… It’s just louder. If I skip them completely, I’m not sure I can keep a handle on myself.”
Ridge leans forward, bracing his forearms on the backs of our seats. “I helped you earlier today when things got intense.” There’s a glint in his eye, dark and possessive. “And I’ll do it again. And again. Seven times each time if that’s what it takes.” His grin is slow and wicked, like he’s picturing it right now.
I glance between them, my brows pulling together. “Seven? What the hell am I missing here?”
Sophia’s cheeks flare crimson instantly, her gaze darting out the window. “Nothing. It’s… nothing.”
Ridge makes a sound that’s somewhere between a chuckle and a satisfied growl. “Not nothing. Our gorgeous Omega came seven times earlier.” He says it with enough pride to fuel a damn parade.
