Page 41 of Mad About Her Cowboys

She shook her head, though she wasn’t saying no. “But there are four of you.”

“You want four, not two?” Franklin asked.

“I don’t understand.” Were they planning to leave out their brothers? She was close to them too, though not as close as she was to Franklin and Connor.

Neal chuckled. He seemed to have lightened up a bit since she’d known him. “Oh, Eds and I aren’t in on this, Mads. We’re just witnesses. We have each other, and we’re leaving for school in a week.”

“Yeah, we’re not settling down,” Edison added. “You’re like our sister. Oh, wait! No!” he corrected himself. “Not that. That’s gross. You’re like our friend with benefits. Fun but not serious. We thought you felt the same way. We’re like the side dish, but they’re the main course.”

“I do. I was just…”

“Thinking you needed to play fair with all of us?” Connor offered.

“Well, yeah.”

He shook his head. “You’re ours—mine and Franklin’s. You’re our love, our purpose and our forever. The mother of our children and companion for the rest of our lives.”

“If you say yes,” Franklin added, then whispered, “Say yes.”

“Yes,” she whispered, feeling pure joy flood through her. She’d never felt the belonging she felt with these two. Nothing like this. Not with anyone she’d ever dated or even when she’d been engaged back in Michigan.

She pushed that all away, focusing on the now and these perfect men who loved her. Franklin held her hand, and Connor slipped on the solitaire. “I love you,” both men said in such near unison, she wondered if they’d rehearsed it.

“I love you, too.” She glanced at Edison and Neal. “Love you, too. As benefit friends.”

“Not anymore, babe,” Edison said, slinging an arm around her. “You’ll just have to live on the memories. We have a pact. You say yes, we step back.”

“One last kiss?” Madison asked.

“Of course.” Edison leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers, feathering and tasting, oh so gentle, then he turned her into Neal, who gave her the same.

“Welcome to the family,” he murmured.

Connor took her next. There was no featherlight touches in his claim, he kissed her long and deep until her legs were buckling. Franklin pulled her to him then and repeated the deep connection. Back and forth…the three of them lost themselves in each other, and when Madison finally surfaced, Neal and Edison had disappeared, stepping away physically just as they had verbally.

“Let’s go home,” Connor suggested against her lips. “I think we should celebrate with some engaged sex. I’d really like to see what it’s like to make love to my fiancée.”

“Me too,” Franklin agreed.

Madison bit her lip smiling. She never imagined coming to Daly would lead to her forever.

* * * *

Madison had been ignoring texts from Martin all week. She had more important things to do. Like planning her wedding and the coming of her baby. The first Quist baby. Just a couple weeks ago, she’d entered the third trimester. It wouldn’t be long now. She couldn’t wait to meet her baby girl. She, Connor and Franklin had all gone in for the sonogram a few weeks ago. She’d thought Franklin might fall to his knees when he’d watched the baby on the screen. His knees had buckled and his hands had clenched the edge of the exam table.

“Our daughter…” he’d whispered. All three of them had tears in their eyes as they watched her move. If Madison had ever doubted their connection to the child, that moment in the darkened room had proven both Connor and Franklin were fully invested in this. In their minds, this was their daughter as much as it was hers.

The only annoying fly in the whole thing was Martin.

She didn’t understand her ex’s hounding. He had wanted nothing to do with her. When he’d been at the ranch, he’d been threatening, but that was only because he saw an opportunity. Sex had always been his guiding principle—however he could get it, from whomever he could get it from. Sadly, she didn’t realize that until it was too late. Eventually, she’d been sidelined and he’d lost interest, save for that one drunken night.

And now, he suddenly had a hard-on to be with her. Hell no. He could just fuck off. Even if he wasn’t an abusive bastard, she’d say the same. She scrolled to the info on the text and tried to block it, but he was somehow sending her messages from an unregistered number so there was nothing to block.

Growling, she hurled the phone onto her couch then finished gathering her things for the day. When Connor and Franklin found out about this, they’d go ballistic. Now that she’d be with them most of the time, other than work, there was no way they wouldn’t see Asshole blowing up her phone. After how they’d reacted to him before, she was terrified what they’d do.

She’d deal with it after work. It had snowed again last night, so she needed to pull her heavy gear back out. Much to her guys’ chagrin, she didn’t wear it every day, but she supposed that would change since she’d be moving in with them come Friday. With them engaged, and Edison and Neal gone for school, they wanted her closer. She had a feeling that would entail Franklin mothering her and his baby.

Every day, she waited for the two guys to change their minds, to decide they didn’t want to be the father to another man’s child. But every day, they grew more and more attached and adamant. Franklin and Connor went to every doctor’s appointment, and there had been genuine tears in their eyes when they’d seen their child on the sonogram screen. Franklin always checked that she was eating well, feeling well. That she had everything she needed. Not that Connor wasn’t that way, but it was a whole different level with “Franklin the Dad”.

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