Page 37 of Cowboy Under Siege

“Wait—you’re hosting a cookout?” Jace’s voice grew energized.

Jaren chuckled. “I’m not surprised you perked up at the mention of food. Bring yourselves and your ladies. And any of the team that wants to come.”

“All right. But is this a good idea?” Judd’s question didn’t make Jaren waver one bit.

“She needs a distraction. I know it.” The conviction in his words gave his brothers another pause.

“How do you know?”

“I just do. Now get those reports to me and I’ll look over them while you guys round up some people for this shindig.”

“Anything else, your highness?” Judd asked with an edge of dry sarcasm.

“Never can have enough beer. Talk soon.” Jaren ended the call before his brothers could say more. Then he picked up his coffee and sipped.

Yeah, he’d never planned a cookout to cheer up a ward, but he was running off those gut instincts. Trinny was a ball of nerves, even after the multiple orgasms he’d given her. The only time he’d ever seen her relaxed was at that rodeo.

He was only making a guess that she was calmer when surrounded by people. Safety in numbers and all that.

If that was what it took to put her at ease, then he’d throw a party every night, and with a new theme too.

He polished off the rest of his coffee and then placed the mug in the sink. After that, he checked the supplies to make sure he had what he needed for a cookout. Corrine and Modeen didn’t let him down—the freezer was fully stocked with Wynton beef, some of the best Jaren ever ate. He laid some out to defrost and was rummaging through the pantry to see what else he could come up with when a soft, feminine voice drifted across the kitchen to him.

“Ohhh, there’s coffee.”

Straightening from the shelf he peered at, he turned to see Trinny in a thin cotton bathrobe. It only came to her knees, which meant most of her body was concealed. But it gave him enough of a peek to remember just how damn good she felt under him, on top of him, wrapped around him.

Just the tannedVat her neck that the robe didn’t cover was enough to make his cock start pushing at his fly.

To keep from grabbing her and bending her over the counter, he located a mug on a shelf and handed it to her.

“Thanks.” She poured coffee and dumped two teaspoons of sugar into it. “Your teammates are quite the hosts. This place has everything a vacation rental would.”

He leaned against the counter, watching her stir the sugar into the brew. A deep ache to draw her against his chest wasn’t helping the state of his cock. He wouldn’t be surprised to find his zipper left an indentation on the length.

“Yeah, the Modeens are great. All of my teammates are. Speaking of…”

She lowered the cup and ran her tongue across her bottom lip. He barely kept a groan in check.

“I invited some of them over for lunch,” he told her.

Her brows shot up, which only drew his gaze to her had-sex-all-night-and-screamed-my-lungs-out hair.

“I thought it might be fun.”

“Am I supposed to wear this?” She waved a hand at her borrowed robe.

This time he couldn’t stifle a groan. “I can fix that.” He grabbed his phone and forced his focus away from the fact one tug on the belt of that robe would leave her bare to him. He shot Judd a text he hoped was coherent, asking if he and Ari could come earlier.

When he looked up, he found Trinny staring at him.

“Is this all okay?” His voice came out low.

She cradled her mug, overlapping her fingers around it. “I don’t know what my life is anymore, so I can’t say. How long have you been in this business?”

“A while. Long enough to know my job.”

She nodded. “If you say a cookout is okay…then I’m going to trust you.”

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