Page 4 of Stirring Up Trouble (Saddle Up #1)

Three

Robin

The morning of our drive out to Anders Ranch, I guzzled a thermos of coffee as I curled up in the back of the truck. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but it was better than being behind the wheel.

I knew it would be ridiculously awkward if I drove. Elton and Bobby Allen were joined at the hip most days from what Griffin had said. With me in the driver’s seat, they’d have likely chosen the back to be close to one another.

Not to mention the fact that the horse trailer was attached in case Bobby Allen found any animals worth bringing home. I could manage it, but I sure as shit didn’t want to.

This way, I got to stretch out and they could still be beside one another. It was a win-win.

“Need anything?” Bobby Allen asked us both after we’d been on the road for a while.

Elton shook his head before turning to face me. “Are you good too, Robin?”

“I’m fine, thanks. Curious what we’re walking into.”

Bobby Allen glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

“According to Atticus, there’s been some drama with the Anders family.

Rumors are what he knows mostly since he and the owner don’t talk much anymore after an argument years ago.

Leslie, the woman who called in the favor, said there’s a new family member in charge. She claims it’s all on the up-and-up.”

“Let’s hope so. I’ll admit I’m a bit nervous. Been over a decade since I’ve done anything rodeo related,” I admitted.

Elton giggled. “That’s better than me. This is my first time.”

I often forgot Elton came from a royal family overseas. He was still learning the ins and outs of ranch life. He hadn’t had time to go to the rodeo with all the changes to the Coleman Ranch. So yeah, he would be completely green.

“You’ll be fine. Bobby Allen isn’t going to let any harm come your way.” I smiled at the young man who quickly turned to look at his partner.

I pulled out my phone, giving them a touch of privacy as they whispered to one another and shared a quick kiss. It wasn’t easy to ignore them. Especially not after all the struggles I’ve had in my own love life.

Why couldn’t I be happy like the men on the ranch? Why did I have to strike out time and time again?

I had to believe the right woman would come along soon. Until then, I needed to find my own version of happy.

Scrolling through my apps, I searched for something to keep me occupied. When I found the one meant to mimic a farm, I opened it with a smile. It’d been a while since I played.

The next long stretch was filled with me harvesting my land and putting the farm hands to work producing various crops. It always fascinated me to see how much of the process they got right and wrong. I’d learned enough through the years to spot the parts that weren’t as accurate.

When we reached the edge of the county, Bobby Allen’s voice caught my attention. “We’ll be there in twenty or so according to what Atticus said. Can you text Leslie to see exactly where we need to go?”

As he handed his phone over his shoulder, I rushed to put my own device down. In the midst of it all, I accidentally clicked on an ad. Ignoring it for the moment, I went about doing what Bobby Allen had asked.

Bobby Allen:

Hi there. We just crossed the county line. Where should we head?

Leslie:

*Sends address* Come straight here to the main house. We’ll get you settled into a room and then tomorrow we’ll start fresh. It’s late.

I read the message out loud before replying with a thumbs up to Leslie. Then I handed the device back over and went to check on my own.

The minute I flipped the screen over, I felt off-kilter. While the ad had likely been for some other game, the way my phone bounced around must have navigated me somewhere else.

I highly doubted an app called Daddy on Demand was going to be found in a children’s game. At least, I hoped not. I had a sneaking suspicion of what it was for. I’d been friends with the men at the Coleman Ranch long enough to know about Daddy Kink.

Weston was also heavy into the BDSM scene at one point. While we didn’t discuss specifics of his activities, we had gone over the basics of kink in case I ever got the urge to try. He said it was his brotherly duty since he’d also given me the birds and bees talk back in the day.

Instead of clicking away from the app, I let my curiosity get the best of me.

Sure as shit, Daddy on Demand wound up being a dating app. Except it wasn’t a dating app like any I’d ever seen before.

I scrolled down the page to see what it boasted as its best features. Most apps loved to showcase themselves with reviews from customers about the product or with a list of features.

Daddy on Demand was much the same. Except everything was very anonymous and mostly tame. If you knew what you were looking at, you could pick up on the subtle kink cues.

When I reached the bottom of the page, I pouted. This couldn’t possibly be it. I wanted to know more. My curiosity was too strong to let this go.

There was only one thing I could do.

I had to download the app.

The process took only a couple of minutes. In that time, Bobby Allen must have finally made it to our destination because when I looked up, he and Elton were staring at me curiously.

“What?” I asked them.

“You were giggling.”

I scrunched my face up at Elton’s reply. “That’s not true.”

“My boy is right,” Bobby Allen added. “You were giggling at something on your phone. I almost pulled over to ask what it was. Elton suggested we wait you out.”

“Huh.” My response was obviously not what they wanted to hear. Both men clearly felt like pressing me for answers.

Thank goodness we were interrupted by a sharp whistle from outside the truck. When we all turned to look, we found a tall, bombshell of a woman standing on the porch with her hands on her hips.

“Is that Leslie?” I asked.

Bobby Allen chuckled. “I’m going to guess it is. She looks feisty.”

“She does.” I nodded as I tried to figure out what emotions were moving through me. We were away from home, far enough that my libido issues — had they been location based — shouldn’t be affecting me.

And yet I had no desire to take things any further. Before, I would have been plotting ways to seduce someone that looked like her. I’d have been the first guy out of the truck, my focus on the woman I planned to bed.

I shook myself from the errant thoughts. It would do me no good to keep focusing on my own problems when there was work to be done. I could fret over my sex life when I was alone in bed at night.

Or maybe not alone. We’d have to wait and see how it all went down.

My mind immediately went back to the app I’d been looking at.

The curiosity I felt towards it hadn’t gone away.

If anything, I was eager to get the introductions and small talk over with so I could get back to it.

I wanted to know more about the process.

My gut was telling me there was a reason it popped up on my phone.

The universe put it in front of me for a reason. I needed to find out why.

Could I be a Daddy? I didn’t think I’d ever had the inclination before. And I would have given I was around several Boys and Littles all the time. Wouldn’t I crave wanting to help them? Was that even a thing?

“Howdy, boys,” Leslie called once we were out of the truck. She trotted down the steps, then stuck her hand out. “I’m Leslie. I’m sure you guessed that already.”

We all laughed at her words. Bobby Allen stepped up first. He shook her hand, introducing himself and Elton.

“And this is…”

“I’m Robin Joffry. The last-minute addition. Thanks for letting us stay with you.”

She shook my hand as one brow raised. “Oh, you have such good manners. You sound like a polite little thing. The boss is gonna like that. Also, this isn’t my ranch. It belongs to my best friend.”

“Best friend?”

“Yep,” she said with a smirk. “Follow me inside. He went to shower, but he’ll be back in a second. In the meantime, Ms. Connie made y’all some dinner. We can get started on that since her food is coveted high and low in this place.”

“Sounds about like the Coleman Ranch too. Harlan’s food draws the folks in.” I spoke up even though I didn’t live there like the others did. Something in me wanted to defend Harlan’s reputation as best ranch cook. Not that there was even a competition. I think I was just off-kilter somehow.

Leslie’s smile grew. “We’ll have to see if he keeps the title of favorite after you eat some of what Ms. Connie put together.”

She led us into the house with confidence. While I believed her when she said they were best friends, part of me wondered if there was more to it. The fact that the man was showering while she played hostess went a long way at encouraging the ideas in my head.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was how cozy everything felt.

Whoever this best friend of hers was, he knew how to create a relaxing environment.

I wanted to curl up on the soft looking couch, cover up with one of the many fleece throws tossed around, and simply stare into the massive fireplace as it roared with a raging fire.

Yeah, I might have been a bit smitten at the space. Sue me.

“Right through here,” Leslie said as she kept moving through the living room and down a short hall into a massive kitchen and dining room space.

It was much more open back here than in the front, though I suspected it was because of how much traffic this area garnered.

If they functioned like the Coleman Ranch did, then they were feeding all their hands during the week.

That meant big bodies filling up the space multiple times a day. A small area wouldn’t do.

A gorgeous Black woman stood in the kitchen, an apron across her ample chest that read, “Eat it or make a sandwich” on the front. I snickered at the words, which was apparently the thing to catch her attention.

“Well, who do we have here? Are these our guests, Leslie?” Her grin told us she knew the answer. She must have wanted to put on a show of the greetings.

It made me instantly like her. That and the smell of whatever she was cooking.

“Yes, Ms. Connie. These are the men helping us out. Meet Bobby Allen, his partner Elton, and Robin.”

“Two partners? Well that’s new,” she replied, hand to her chest.

I raised my hands. “Oh no! No, no, no. I’m not with them like that.”

Everyone in the room turned my way at my hasty reply. Their expressions ranged from amused (Leslie) to confused (Ms. Connie) and even a bit curious (Elton).

“You would be lucky to be in a throuple with us,” the latter of the three said as he tucked himself into Bobby Allen’s side.

Laughing, I shook my head. “I have enough relationship issues on my own. No need to complicate it by having two partners. Thanks but no thanks.”

“Clearly, I need to go see my doctor since I’m hearing things and making stuff up,” Ms. Connie interjected. “Either way, no matter who is with whom, it’s nice to meet y’all. I’ve got some food ready for you. Have a seat at the table, and I’ll bring it over.”

The four of us did the song and dance of figuring out where everyone should sit. Leslie tired of it all quickly, her arms going in the air as she huffed.

“Elton and Bobby, sit there.” She pointed across the table. “I’ll sit beside Robin and next to Ms. Connie. That leaves the head seat for the boss.”

“He better get his butt down here or he’s gonna miss his meal,” Connie shouted, as if she wanted him to hear her.

“I’m coming! You’d have been more pissed if I tried to sit at your table smelling like that,” a deep voice called back from down the hall.

As we all sat down, I fought back a shiver. The man’s tone was rougher than I expected. Not in that smokes a pack a day way though. More like growly alpha male .

And yeah, I knew all about what that sounded like. I’d dated a woman or two who was obsessed with romance audiobooks. One had even gotten me hooked on them. Though mine weren’t as sexy as some she’d played me, I had heard my fair share of favorite narrators.

This guy would be perfect for the role. I wondered if he had any clue women all over the world would fawn over him. A good number of men too.

Not me, of course.

I was just observing him. Or rather, listening to him. I hadn’t caught sight of him yet.

That’s when the universe decided to smack me over the head. Because as Ms. Connie delivered the first round of plates and turned to get more, a man came strutting down the hall and my brain shutdown.

Like literally dark mode, closing up shop, zero thoughts left kind of shutdown.

“Smells delicious in here, Connie,” he said. The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“As usual,” Leslie added the words with emphasis. “Ms. Connie never misses.”

“That’s right. I know the way to keep these men in line. A good meal can heal anything.” She returned with the last of the plates, then she walked around the table to have a seat.

It was then I realized the man was going to sit beside me. All at once, it felt like the room was closing in on me. My chest hurt, and I couldn’t get enough oxygen in.

Distantly I heard voices calling my name, but there wasn’t anything I could do to respond. The thing that I latched onto most was the concerned look on the handsome man’s face.

Wait… handsome?

Oh.

Oh fuck.