Max stopped in the middle of everything. He frowned as though that was the last thing he’d expected to hear. “But you’ve been itching for a fight.”
He had. He’d actually kind of been baiting Max for a month. It was stupid and childish, but he relied on those damn fights.
And he had to stop because he was going to be a dad. Max already was a dad. Like it or not, understand it or not, his world was changing and he had to change with it. And that meant no more throw downs with Max Harper.
Who should really be more of a damn grown-up. His second kid was on the way.
“Max, we’re not twelve anymore.”
Max’s eyes rolled. “Obviously.”
“We have to start acting like responsible adults at some point in time.”
“Says the man who’s standing around nekkid.”
Stef gritted his teeth and forced himself to respond. “It’s a naturists’ resort, asshole. Now tell me what imaginary shit you’ve come up with this time. And you, Rye? What the hell did I do to you?”
Rye and Max exchanged a long glance, the anger in Max deflating at once.
“I thought you had a reason,” Max said.
Rye shook his head. “No, I thought you did.”
Max threw up his hands. “Rye, you’re the brains of this operation. I’m just the pretty one. I was supposed to beat the shit out of Stef and you were supposed to come up with a good reason why. What are you here for anyway? What the hell are we going to do now? Jen is going to be pissed.”
“Jen?” What the hell did his wife have to do with any of this? His wife usually just rolled her eyes when he fought with Max.
“Max, you dumbass.” Rye whistled, a high sound he usually used on horses, but it wasn’t a horse who showed up this time.
Caleb Burke and Alexei Markov showed up. Caleb was carrying his tranquilizer gun.
Stef took a step back. “Caleb, now, you put that shit away. You are only supposed to use that when Mel goes insane.”
Caleb sighed. “I switched to the low dose. Don’t be a baby.”
Had he stepped into a really bad dream? “What the fuck is wrong with you? I swear to god if you shoot me with that thing, I’m going to sue your ass.”
Caleb’s eyes rolled. “No, you won’t. That’s the great thing about being the only doctor for forty miles. Night-night, Stef.”
And the son of a bitch shot him. The tranq dart went right into his upper thigh, and Stef went down, his backside hitting the grass. Fuck. His head was already swimming a little.
Max’s face stared at him. “It’s going to be okay, buddy. And actually I want to thank you for being naked. It makes things so much easier. Alexei, get his legs. And watch out for his junk. I think the client is interested in it.”
Caleb stepped up. “Hey, as your doctor and your wife’s doctor, I’m totally giving you permission to have sex when you wake up. Go for it, man. Jen’s perfectly healthy. Hell, she’s ready to pop. A little sex might get the process started.”
He hated Caleb. Why had he ever thought bringing a doctor into town was a good idea?
As his peripheral vision started to fade, he realized something.
Responsible adult or not, he was so going to kick Max’s ass. He might kick all their asses. Some things could never, ever change.
Chapter Ten:
Leo, Shelley, and Wolf
Shelley McNamara looked down at her watch. All around her the bridal shower was moving forward, but all she could think about was the fact that in roughly twenty-four hours she wouldn’t be Shelley McNamara anymore. She would be Shelley Meyer, and she intended to die as Shelley Meyer. She’d been married once before to a complete douche lord, but this time was different. This time she was madly in love.
However, the course of true love didn’t always run smoothly. Sometimes it was blown wildly off course by a crazy person with a deep love of beets.
Cassidy Meyer was a sweet woman in her sixties. She’d welcomed Shelley with open arms and then she’d used one of those arms to try to shove a beet down her throat.
“Oh, no.” Beth was staring across the lawn. “I don’t know exactly what’s happening with my brother-in-law and his subs, but it’s not good.”
Shelley looked over in time to see Lexi O’Malley wiping tears away as she talked on the phone and Lucas and Aidan walked away. They were likely heading out to the men’s gathering, which looked to be much weirder than the gorgeous garden party Jennifer Talbot was throwing her.
Shelley watched Lucas and Aidan walk away with a heavy heart. She’d known Aidan for a long time, and Lucas and Lexi for several years. She’d watched as they had stood together even when the town they lived in disapproved of their lifestyle. They’d been so close.
The way she was close to Leo and Wolf.
“She’s working too much,” Beth said with a frown. “But she’s convinced if she slows down she’ll kill her career.”
“It’s hard to give up momentum.” Shelley should know. “If Lexi’s business is anything like mine, then the more work you get out there, the better your profits are. The design business is almost entirely word of mouth. The more clients I have, the more they multiply. You work for years and then realize that there’s just more work ahead of you. And it has to be worse for Lexi.”
“How?” Beth asked.
“Have you forgotten how precarious ranching is? I would be shocked if they’ve turned a profit yet. I know Lucas makes good money, but it’s nothing compared to Lexi. Think about it. Lucas gets paid a salary. He knows what he’ll make any given year. Lexi’s income is only limited by how many books she sells. It’s a siren song. The more books she sells, the more opportunity for her family. She can give Aidan’s ranch a real shot. She can subsidize it until it’s profitable. I grew up on a ranch. There were years when my momma had no idea if we would have a place to live the next spring.”
“I don’t think he’s letting her put money into the ranch.”
“Then he’s letting his pride get in the way. That ranch is Lexi’s home, too. She’s got to be scared because a ranch can go belly up any time.”
“It’s not so bad,” Beth said with a sigh.
Shelley shook her head. “Oh, don’t try to equate your experience. The Circle G was making a comeback when Trev bought in. Aidan’s ranch was broke because Bo got all the money.” Aidan and Bo’s father was a bastard. He’d given Aidan the land, but no money to keep it up and Bo all the money and no land to invest in. And they had been too stubborn to see the obvious solution. It had worked out for the best because Bo had found Beth and Trev and moved to the Circle G, while Aidan was happier on his own.
But how much stress had it caused Lexi? She had two kids.
Beth took a sip of her lemonade. “I guess I didn’t think of it that way. There are always two sides. I just can’t stand the thought of them being unhappy.”
Shelley hated it, too. “Does the whole Dom thing change when you have kids?”
Beth looked thoughtful. “A little, I guess. Why?”
“Because if I was working too much, Leo would put me over his lap before I could breathe.” And that was pretty much how she liked it.
She was too ambitious in some ways. She found it hard to turn down jobs even when she knew she couldn’t handle them. Leo had made it easy. She could do three jobs at once and if she took a fourth, she better be damn ready to give up a layer of skin. It had made it easy to find her balance.
“Well, I guess it is a little different. Kids complicate everything. It’s easy to follow your Dom’s orders when it’s just you, but when they place this baby in your hands, suddenly you’re not just thinking about you. You have a whole different set of priorities, and don’t let anyone tell you that you can prepare for that. No childcare class is going to train you on how to handle it. You can feel the baby kick and know that you love her, and it doesn’t prep you for the utter realization that this baby is wholly dependent on you. You’ve brought a life into the world and you’re responsible, and no amount of a submissive nature can make you give up that responsibility. I love Trev, but I’m the alpha when it comes to that baby girl. I’m her momma. So yes, it changes. I can’t just sit back and let Trev make the decisions and neither can Bo. We have to decide together, and sometimes Trev has to give in. I expect it will get worse as she gets older, as we have another one eventually.”
The idea scared the crap out of Shelley. “I don’t know that Leo wants kids. Maybe he’s right. Maybe we should just concentrate on our marriage.”
“You should at first, but I think he’ll change his mind. What does Wolf want?”
Of her two men, Wolf was the sweet one. “He would have me pregnant now.”
“And you three have talked about it? It doesn’t seem right going into a marriage where two of you might not ever want kids.”
“I didn’t say that.” Shelley got an antsy feeling in the pit of her stomach. “I think I do. I just look at how they change things and I wonder if we wouldn’t be happier without them.”
“Wolf Meyer picks up every kid he sees,” Beth pointed out. “I only asked because I knew the answer. Wolf won’t be complete without kids. And a lot of men don’t know they want kids until someone puts a baby in their arms and they look at that little face.”