Page 58 of Knot Her Cowboys
Adulthood had done incredible work on Cooper and Cash, filling out their bodies, giving them some rough-and-tumble energy that hadn’t manifested yet in our teen years. Cooper andI had learned every inch of each other back then, fumbling and inexperienced, but absolutely desperate to get as close as we could. It was impossible to not think about how things might be different now.
Dakota and Levi were also an enticing consideration. It wasn’t every day a man threw himself in a river to rescue you. I already knew Levi could give my omega side what it needed. And Dakota was so sweet, seemingly possessing the keys to the locked boxes where I kept my inner turmoil stashed away. Those men wanted me safe and healed, and even though it was still early, it felt really nice to let them work at both.
“Don’t you dare leave town without letting me say goodbye,” Morgan ordered.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. I have to come see your little empire in the woods first. I had been planning on doing that today anyway before everything imploded. Got a little sidetracked.”
“I believe it,” Morgan said with a laugh. “Could I steal you for a walk?”
“You can steal me for anything you want, string bean. The boys can keep each other company.”
I extracted myself from Cash and Cooper, Morgan linking our arms as she led us away, Muffin trotting at her side, keeping a steady eye on her mama. Once we were out of earshot, she turned to me. “How hard are you freaking out about the bond?”
“Not as much as I expected. It was definitely a surprise, but I can’t complain about it being Cash. Friends to lovers to bondmates in one evening was a roller coaster speedrun, but—” I shrugged.
“I bonded Bear by accident,” she told me. “An extra heat flare after the main heat was over. My body was wonky as hell going off suppressants cold turkey after being on them for years.”
“I bet. I had the opposite, where I was trying to suppress a single heat so it didn’t get in the way of a move, forgot one dose, and now I’m bonded to Cash forever.”
“Do you miss your ex-fiancés?”
“I thought I would. The whole river situation brought a lot of clarity to the state of our relationship. I miss who they used to be, but I don’t miss the men who left here. Maybe it would all be harder without the bond, but Cash is so fucking jazzed.”
Morgan laughed. “I noticed that. I was pretty sure he liked you back in the day and just shut up so he didn’t make things weird pushing for a pack too early.”
“Oh, he did. Confessed that little gem to me. I feel a bit bad I never noticed back then.”
“Cooper was excellent at monopolizing your attention.”
“One of his greatest talents,” I agreed.
We paused in front of one of the paddocks and Morgan said very quietly, “Be gentle with him, okay?”
“He’s a hard man to be gentle with, but I don’t want to hurt him.”
“Cash told me you’re all scent matches. Does that make a difference in you deciding to stay or not? I don’t want to pressure you or anything, but I wouldreallylike you to stay.”
“I’m still fresh off a broken engagement. I’m trying not to make concrete plans.”
Morgan sighed dramatically. “Okay, fiiine. I guess that’s fair. You’ll keep me posted, though? We were basically sisters once.”
“I think we legally are now, but in any case, I have no intentions of repeating what happened before. We need a code word.”
“For what?”
I told her all about the email fuckery that had scared me off talking to any of them, and her eyes widened.
“Goddammit, Darlene. She’s so fucking good at ruining things.” Morgan leaned hard on the fence, resting her chin on her crossed arms. “I don’t have to like it, but I get it. That would’ve spooked me too. Fuck. We didn’t even have a safe number for you to call to check and tell us. Okay, code word is Muffin.”
Upon hearing her name, Muffin stood up on her back legs, resting her paws on Morgan’s shoulder, licking her cheeks.
I laughed. “Your dog?”
“It’s easy to remember, but not something any of the people you’re worried about would know. I’ll make sure the boys know just in case. I mean, I might throw myself at your ankles and hold on if you try to run again, but if you did have to leave, you could use it.”
I hugged her from behind, squeezing until she squeaked. Her omega scent of maple syrup and black tea suited her well and smelled lovely in the summer heat. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” Morgan sniffled. “Promise me you’ll at least think about staying. I know Cooper can be a dumbass, but he’s been through a lot since you left, and he didn’t have the luxury of moving on, not really. I think he was always waiting for you to come back.”
