Page 40 of Knot Your Problem, Cowboy (Wild Hearts Ranch #1)

Cash laughs. “All wrong! It means it’s extremely hot outside. Goats eat peppers, so their butts would be?—”

“That’s disgusting,” I interrupt. “Who comes up with these?”

“Farmers with too much time,” Ridge adds. “So Cash owes a dare. Who’s it gonna be?”

Cash’s eyes lock on mine, of course. I swallow hard. “Sophia. You have to sit on Ridge’s lap for the next round.”

I stiffen, fire bursting through my chest. “That’s not fair!”

“Them’s the rules, sugar.”

Ridge pats his thigh, and that simple gesture shouldn’t make my mouth go dry, but here we are. “Come on. I’ll behave.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about,” I mutter, but I move to his lap .

I try to perch on his knee, keeping some distance, but Ridge wraps an arm around my waist and tugs me back against his chest.

“Might as well be comfortable,” he murmurs in my ear.

Comfortable. Right. I can feel every hard plane of his chest against my back, his arm solid around my waist. And is that… yes, that’s definitely his erection pressing against my ass. My body temperature spikes about a thousand degrees.

“My turn,” Walker says, and his voice has gone deeper. “Slicker than deer guts on a doorknob.”

“Why are they all gross?” I complain, trying not to squirm on Ridge’s lap. Squirming would be bad. Squirming would create friction. Friction would make Ridge’s situation more obvious and my situation more desperate.

“It means slippery,” Ridge guesses, his breath fanning against my neck.

“Dangerous?” Cash tries.

“Something about hunting?” I manage, proud that my voice doesn’t shake.

“It means very slippery or sneaky,” Walker confirms. “Ridge got it. What’s your demand?”

Ridge’s arm tightens slightly around me. “Tell me about the last dream you had.”

Walker doesn’t hesitate. “It was about a certain Omega. In my kitchen. Wearing nothing but my apron while I cooked breakfast. ”

My whole body goes still.

Cash lets out a low whistle. “Don’t hold back now. What happened next?”

I lift my head off Ridge’s shoulder just enough to shoot them both a warning look. “We don’t need the details.”

Walker grins at me like I just dared him to go on.

“I mean, could’ve been any Omega,” Ridge adds dryly, like he’s trying to toss me a lifeline. “Doesn’t mean it was you.”

But I stiffen anyway.

Walker’s smile sharpens. He leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs.

“She was standing barefoot on the cool tile, apron tied at the back, and nothing else. I kept cooking while she leaned over the counter, watching me. Every time she shifted her weight, I could see more of her. Every curve. Every inch I wanted to taste.”

Ridge’s breath hitches behind me.

“She turned around, lifted herself onto the island,” Walker continues, voice a little lower now. “That apron fell just enough for me to see everything. And I couldn’t help myself. I laid her back on the cold marble, peeled that apron off her slowly, and?—”

“Okay!” My voice comes out an octave too high, my cheeks blazing. “We got it. You made breakfast.”

Walker raises a brow. “Did I?”

Cash is laughing quietly, and Ridge’s fingers flex slightly where they’re resting at my hip.

His breath is warm on my neck, and I swear his thickness nestled against my ass just throbbed, getting harder.

No one says anything for a long moment, but the tension in the room thickens like honey, slow, golden, and impossible to ignore.

Still flushed, I shift on Ridge’s lap, suddenly all too aware of how warm his body is beneath mine. I clear my throat and slide off, trying to be casual about it. Yet they’re all watching me.

“It was only one round,” I mumble, smoothing my shorts as I settle on the cushion beside him. My thighs brush his for half a second, and I feel his stare on me like a touch. He doesn’t say a word, but his gaze slowly, deliberately drags down my legs like he’s trying to memorize the length of them.

I tuck one leg beneath me and pretend not to notice. Pretend I’m not imagining how his hands would feel, gripping my bare thighs instead of just looking.

Walker stretches out, clearly still smug from his dream reveal. Cash cracks his knuckles like he’s resetting the mood, leaning forward with a grin.

“All right, next one’s mine,” Ridge announces, dragging his attention back to the group. “Let’s see who’s got real ranch smarts.”

He rests an elbow on his knee and looks around the circle, his voice low and playful. “What does it mean when a cowboy says he rode the fence until the cows came home, but still ended up knee-deep in goat shit ?”

Cash snorts. “Means he worked hard and still got screwed.”

“Means he was chasing tail and got the wrong species,” Walker offers, grinning.

I scrunch up my nose.

Ridge shakes his head. “Wrong. And wronger.”

They both glance at me. I blink. “Hmm. It means he tried to keep everyone happy and ended up with a mess anyway.”

All three of them stare.

Walker lets out a low whistle. “Damn.”

Cash tips his imaginary hat. “She’s been studying Cowboyese.”

Ridge’s mouth twitches, pride flickering in his expression. “That’s right.”

I smile, trying not to glow too obviously, seeing as I completely guessed that.

“All right,” Ridge says, leaning back with a gleam in his eyes. “Winner picks the next dare. Anyone in the room.”

I sit up a little straighter. Oh. Power. Dangerous in the wrong hands. Even more dangerous in mine.

My gaze drifts slowly across the three of them. Cash, lounging with his arms spread across the back of the couch like he owns the place. Walker, sprawled at the other end, still smirking. And Ridge, silent and intense, watching me .

God, which one of them do I dare?

And what would I make them do?

I toy with my empty glass, trying to buy myself time, before I put it down on the table.

They’re all watching me. Waiting. Three pairs of eyes. Shit. What do I say?

The power is mine. I could pick something harmless. Silly.

But some wicked part of me wants to see them squirm. Wants them to feel the heat I’ve been drowning in for days.

I shouldn’t. God, what am I thinking?—

“What would you do to me?” I blurt. “If we were alone?” My breath catches. “Whisper it. In my ear.”

The room goes still. Then?—

Cash lets out a low whistle. “Whew, sugar. Going straight for the throat, huh?”

“Damn,” Walker mutters, leaning forward with a grin so wide it makes me blush. “I love that one. Can I answer too?”

I laugh, a little breathless. “Nope. This one’s all up to Ridge.”

He hasn’t moved. Just watches me. Heat blooming behind his eyes. Then he shifts slowly in his seat, turning until he’s fully facing me, knees brushing mine.

The closeness tightens something in my chest. I shouldn’t have asked. Not like this.

I made a mistake. A beautiful, terrible mistake .

The others are watching me, waiting for my reaction like it’s dessert.

Ridge leans in. One hand finds the back of the couch behind me.

“I’d tie your wrists to the headboard so you can’t stop me,” he growls in my ear, voice dragging over my spine like smoke and sin.

“Spread you wide and feast like a starving man, slow at first, just to hear you beg. Then rough. Until you can’t remember your own name, only mine.

And when your thighs are shaking and your voice is hoarse from screaming, I’d slide in deep and stay there.

Let you feel just how long I’ve been dying to ruin you. ”

My entire body flushes. A soft gasp escapes before I can stop it.

My legs press together instinctively, and I swear I hear Cash groan.

Walker runs a hand over his mouth, eyes locked on me like I’m the main course.

“Whatever he said,” Cash mutters, voice hoarse, “I second it. Hell, I’ll make it a group project.”

“I third it,” Walker says, eyes hungry.

I blink fast, trying to get my heart to slow down. It’s pointless. Ridge is still close, eyes locked on mine.

And I know, without a shadow of a doubt, this game just got dangerous. And I took it there…

The silence after Ridge’s whisper is obscene. My pulse is in my ears, my thighs pressed tighter.

He leans back, smug, unreadable, but I see him.

For all the times he’s pulled back, all that careful brooding…

he’s just as hungry as the others. Maybe more.

He watches me like he wants to consume every inch and leave nothing untouched.

And I’m no better. Around them, my self-control slips like sand through fingers.

Every brush, every look, sends my body spiraling toward something dangerous.

The kind of desire that doesn’t just burn; it ignites.

“Well then,” Cash finally says, his voice thick. “It’s Sophia’s turn.”

I blink back to the present, struggling to remember what game we’re even playing. The living room feels too warm, the couch too soft beneath me, the air too heavy with their scents, with everything that just passed between us.

I clear my throat. “Fine. Here’s mine.” I let the words drip from my lips, teasing. “Rode hard and put up wet.”

Walker groans like he’s in pain. “Now that’s just cruel.”

“Means she’s had a real long day,” Ridge explains, still watching me with that molten gaze.

Cash grins. “Or a real long night. But I’ll bite. Was I close?”

“Not close enough,” I smirk, swirling the last of my drink. “It means someone looks worn out. Used up. Like they’ve been pushed too far and never given the rest they needed.”

Three sets of eyes are still locked on me. And the irony of that phrase hanging in the air doesn’t go unnoticed.

“So now…” I say, standing slowly, smoothing my hands over my thighs just to do something. “I get to pick a dare.”

Cash sits forward like a kid at Christmas. “Please let it involve me and rope.”

Walker’s grin is feral. “Or licking. I vote for licking.”

Ridge just raises a brow, silent. Waiting.