Page 21
MATT
I rested my forearm along the railing of the paddock where Willow was grazing peacefully. It was a nice day, and I needed to clear my head. My room was on the top level, and every time I passed the stairs, I thought of Chloe. When I went by the tack room, I thought of her too. The room had smelled like sex when I caught them all together, and it made me want to push her over my saddle and fuck her. I couldn’t help but imagine what had happened in there before I came by.
I had ruined everything. I’d thought for sure that even with me saying I couldn’t join the three of them, she’d end up with Hunter and Kyle. When she said it was all of us or no one, I was stunned.
In the past, I hadn’t wanted a long-term relationship with anyone. Now not a day goes by that I’m not missing Chloe. When she left, she took a part of me with her. And now that I’d lost her, I had nothing but time to think.
As the days passed, I revisited that night we were all together. It still surprised me how much it turned me on. Watching her being pleasured by all of us, seeing Kyle sink into her… was hot . Every stroke, every moan, every part of what we were doing was for Chloe. She was a goddess. She took all three of us and made each of us feel like we were perfect.
I loved having her all to myself, but it wasn’t such a strange idea for all of us to be together. And with each thought making me question the firm belief I had held on to for so long, the more it scared the hell out of me.
I never wanted a Cosland relationship. I wanted a woman all for myself.
Why would I think of sharing?
But now that I had seen what sharing was like, I could see the potential. I could understand why everyone on the ranch wanted it. Yet it made me want to run in the opposite direction. What if I agreed to give it a go and then changed my mind? I couldn’t put Chloe through that heartbreak.
I hunched over the wooden post and blew out a breath. The breeze tickled my neck, and Willow lifted her head, catching a scent on the wind. She snorted but then went to munching on her grass. Whatever it was, she was paying it no mind.
Another minute later, and the solid sound of boots crunching along the path grabbed my attention.
“Got a minute to talk?” Even without Kyle’s voice coming in on my left side, I’d have known he was there. His solid frame leaned against the wood, mimicking me. I didn’t turn to my right, but a foot rested against the bottom rung and a heavy sigh was let out.
“Talk about what?” I knew exactly what they wanted. Honestly, I was surprised it took this long before they found me. It wasn’t like I was avoiding them—I was avoiding everyone . Self-pity was better than having everyone else have pity on me. There was no doubt in my mind everyone knew I had ruined everything.
“Don’t play dumb, Matt.” Hunter’s voice was rougher than normal. He was probably getting about as much sleep as I was, and he had every right to be pissed.
“Then start talking before I walk away. I’m not here to play guessing games,” I snapped. It was easier to direct all my anger toward him.
“We want to talk to you about Chloe.” Kyle was always the calm one. Just like Declan had said, everyone played a part in the relationship. Kyle really did balance out Hunter and me.
“Chloe wants all or nothing. We know that. Only thing is, I don’t think any of us knew how serious she was. At the beginning, all I could think about was trying to win her over. Except Chloe is strong, independent, and she deserves men who will support her, compliment her, get her to slow down and take it easy. I didn’t want you to be with us. I thought Kyle and I were enough for her, but after seeing us together, how much she cares for you, I realized I was being selfish.” Hunter waved his hand between the three of us. “I don’t know about you, but for a little while, I thought it was working.”
I shrugged. It had been working… until I blew it. It was too much. Everything I wanted, or thought I wanted, was changing.
Kyle punched my arm. “Stop denying it. You know he’s right.”
I jerked my gaze to Kyle but deflated when I saw the desperation in his face. We all felt the defeat of losing the woman we wanted, the woman we loved. I knew they loved her just as much as I did.
“Don’t you want Chloe?” Kyle snapped.
“Of course I do.” How could I not? Chloe was amazing, and I knew she was it for me.
“Well, then you need to decide how much. Otherwise we will all lose her.” Kyle jabbed his finger at my chest. “And I’m not letting that happen.”
“I don’t know if I can do this with you guys. I don’t have a clue if I can sustain a Cosland relationship. I know I love Chloe, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her, but it would destroy me to hurt her.”
“And you think you’re not hurting her now?” Kyle growled.
“It’s different. The more time we’re all together, the harder it would be if I walked away. Besides, I have no idea how to make a relationship like that work.”
“Does it look like we know what we’re doing? This is all new for us too.” Hunter waved his hand between him and Kyle. “The only thing we ever decided on was that we would share a woman. Nothing more. We’d never actually shared a woman until a few days ago, and that happened to also be with you. We’re all learning how to do this together. And we’ll make it our own anyway. Do whatever works for us. It’s not like a poly relationship comes with a manual. When you know you’ve found the right woman, then you do whatever it takes to make it happen. To make her happy.”
“I get it.” I ran a hand roughly through my hair. “I never wanted this. And the part that scares me the most is… I enjoyed it. I never expected I’d have that reaction.”
“Trust me, I wanted this life, and even I didn’t expect it to be that hot.” Hunter gave me a sympathetic smile. “And don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t wait to have her between us again. One of us in her ass and the other in her pussy. She’s going to explode.” Hunter’s eyes flashed with heat.
“Hell yes.” He wasn’t wrong. After being with Chloe by myself and with the other guys, I could see how turned on and how passionate she was. It was like with all of us working together, her pleasure increased ten-fold, and we were able to sustain it even longer than we could alone. I took a deep breath and mulled it over. No matter how I thought about it, it made sense for us to all be together. The three of us were in love with her and wanted what was best for her. She cared for each of us and never once made us feel left out. She didn’t make me feel like I was fighting for her attention. If the guys accepted me into this relationship, then it made sense for me to join in.
“We are all in agreement that we want Chloe?” Hunter shifted his gaze between me and Kyle.
“Yes,” I said, while Kyle nodded.
“But we have to be completely in this together. One hundred percent a team no matter how hard it gets.” Kyle pointed at each of us. I’d never seen him so serious about anything. He’d grown so much in just a short time. Chloe was good for him. She was good for all of us.
“No pun intended,” Hunter snorted, and I bit my cheek to stop myself from smiling.
“I’m in.” No hesitation this time.
“Me too.” Hunter stuck his hand in the center of us.
“What are we supposed to do? All for one and one for all? Handshake? Fist bump?” My eyebrows pulled together. It would be silly to do something like that, but it also didn’t seem official until we did something.
“We can all fist bump together, I guess. I feel like it needs something.” Kyle put his fist in the center. It was nice to know we were all in the same boat when it came to this. They may have had a little longer to think it over, but it was new territory for all of us. And that made me feel better.
The three of us bumped fists and let out a collective deep breath. The tension seemed to float away, and I felt lighter.
“So how do we get her back?” Hunter kicked at a rock on the ground.
“I have an idea, but it’s going to take all of us working together.” Kyle’s smile stretched from cheek to cheek.
“Whatever it is, I’m in.” I wanted Chloe in my arms as soon as possible. It had been too long since I’d seen her smiling face beside me.
“Chloe needs some help. We are her team, and we’ve been doing a real shitty job of having her back. I say we show her what being a team with us really means.”
“How do we do that? I haven’t been paying much attention to the wedding stuff,” I gruffly admitted, shame sliding down my spine.
“I’ve been helping her a little. I have access to her online files. I’ll find out what needs to be done and work from there. Matt, you’re good with the physical things. I know there is a lot that needs to be set up. She has it all scheduled, but let’s see if we can’t get most of it done tonight. I know you can handle the big things. I’ll handle the details.”
“What about me?” Hunter crossed his arms.
“You get to do what you do best.”
“What’s that?”
“Persuade as many people as possible to help. We can’t pitch a tent by ourselves,” I said, hoping he understood the metaphor. I knew we weren’t actually pitching tents. That’s what the tent crew would be doing, but we needed other people to help with manual labor.
“Got it.”
I tried not to laugh at Hunter’s enthusiasm. He turned on his heel and made his way to the barns where I hoped he could find recruits.
“Where is Chloe now?” I asked.
“I think she’s at the big house doing the rehearsal with the family and wedding party. Then a big dinner to follow.” Kyle took out his phone and checked over Chloe’s wedding notes. “Yeah, that’s what it shows on the calendar.” He swiped the screen again. “I’ll call the tent people and get the time they’re dropping everything off. It seems like we might need some people to make runs into town to bring last-minute wedding items. Apparently there’s an issue with flowers, and Mrs. Meadows can’t fit some of the arrangements in her truck.”
“There are a whole bunch of boxes and crates in the dining hall and all over barn one that need to make it to the location. Once the tents are up, maybe we can work as quietly as possible and get those over to the site before morning.” I remembered Oliver had sent over a bunch of alcohol early so he didn’t have too much to bring on the day of—those needed to be set up in his bar tent.
“She has tent drop off on the schedule for”—he looked at his watch—“an hour ago. Maybe one of us can go by the location and see if they were delivered.”
“I’ll go do that while you take scope of the rest of the notes and get a list going. Be back in a few.”
After a quick nod from Kyle, I jogged to my truck and drove to the wedding site. The tents had been delivered as scheduled and were currently being assembled. I peeked at the layout, and something was off. After speaking with the tent crew, there was an issue with where the tents could go. The ground hadn’t dried enough in one area where two tents were supposed to be placed.
A text pinged on my phone, and I saw Kyle had started a new chat with the three of us. He said to meet them in the bunkhouse; they had reinforcements. “Give me twenty minutes, and I’ll see if we can’t get this worked out,” I told the tent crew and raced to the ranch.
When I returned, Kyle and Hunter were heading to the bunkhouse with a few men in tow. I recognized Gavin, Scott, the twins, and Ryder. I made it inside just as everyone settled into the common area. A few beers had been cracked, but everyone appeared ready and willing to help us.
Kyle listed off some of the major issues that would need addressing first.
“Wait, did anyone ask if Mrs. Roberts had a steamer? I know it’s probably not an industrial one, but if we need to figure out an alternative, then that might be it.” Gavin pointed his beer bottle in the direction of the big house.
“Good thinking. Go to the big house and see what she’s got. If she has something we can use, call Sarah at the dress shop and see if she can get here tonight.”
“The tent crew is setting up the tents as we speak, but we have a slight issue. The tent for the bar isn’t going to work in its current location. The ground is too wet for a secure hold.” I glanced at Kyle. “Let’s check out the map and see where we can move it.” Tonight was going to be a long night, but we had a wedding to finish and a woman to win over.