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"The best in the world," Cody said.
"Second best," he corrected. "Pretty sure my rookie's gonna put me to shame, and our boyfriend's gonna make sure we can keep going."
"Yeah, I am."
Cody just breathed out a soft laugh. "A long and broken road."
"What?" I wasn't keeping up with her again.
So she lifted those pretty blue eyes and found mine. "All of us, Tanner. We took the long and broken road to get to where we needed to be. To find the people we're supposed to be with."
"To get here," I realized. "Yeah, I think I like that."
"Here's to broken roads," J.D. said, lifting his bottle of soda, "and the people worth traveling them with."
"To broken roads," Cody and I agreed, tapping our plastic bottles against his, because they were right. This was exactly where I wanted to be, and dinner with my parents had just made me sure of it.
Chapter9
The next morning,I woke up to my phone ringing. I rolled to the sound, only to find a strong back in my face. Sucking in a breath, I tried to wake the rest of the way up. No tattoos, so that was Tanner. He was lifted up, reaching to grab my phone for me.
"Here," he mumbled, passing it over.
I saw "Max" on the screen, so I swiped quickly. "Yeah?"
"Did I wake you?" my Tillman representative asked.
I just groaned. "Maybe."
"It's Thursday," he reminded me. "I just got into Des Moines, got a car, and I'm headed towards your hotel."
Which made me gasp and sit up. "Shit. It's Thursday!"
"Good morning, Cody," Max teased. "And now that you're actually awake, I'll say all of that again. I'm about half an hour from you. I've got the new patches on your gear for Under Armour and Mike's. I wanted to give that to you, make sure there's nothing in those contracts you don't like, and make sure they get back to the right people."
"Right," I agreed, because we'd talked about this back in Cheyenne. Still, a lot had happened since then. "So where did you want to meet?"
"Hotel lobby. Make it forty-five minutes. No need to get fancy, Cody. I just want to make sure we're still on the same page."
"Ok, I'll be down in the lobby in forty-five minutes," I promised.
As soon as I was off the phone, I checked the time. Then, just to be sure, I set a timer to count down. When that was done, I looked at the bed, trying to figure out how the hell I was supposed to get out of the middle.
Because Tanner was to my right. J.D. was to my left. Both men were asleep again, and it was cute. Tanner's strawberry blonde hair was a complete mess, going in all directions. J.D., on the other hand, looked just as beautifully dangerous asleep as he did awake.
I wanted to caress them, kiss them, and enjoy the moment, but the timer was already ticking down. I also really needed a shower. Sadly, my only escape was to somehow get on top of the covers and then slide down the middle. Surprisingly, I made it work.
Then I hurried into the bathroom and got myself clean. As I washed my hair, my mind went back to those men. We hadn't gotten kinky last night. Instead, we'd stayed up talking about a farm and getting old. We'd made jokes about walkers and creaking joints. There had definitely been some cuddling too.
Being with these two was so different from being with Ty. He'd always wanted to fuck. Yeah, it had been nice - to a point. He'd made me feel sexy, desired, but eventually he'd made me feel like an object. Tanner and J.D.? They made me feel like their equal.
It didn't matter if that was who kissed someone, who leaned against someone, or how we'd all piled together on the couch last night to watch a bad movie. J.D. had leaned against the side, Tanner had leaned against him, and I'd leaned against Tanner, hanging my legs over the other armrest. Kinda like a human sandwich.
The strangest part of that was how their lack of pressure made me feel more wanted. Me, not my body. Me, not an orgasm. Me, the crazy cowgirl who currently felt like the luckiest person in the world. They treated me as if my company was just as exciting to them as my body, and I couldn't get enough of it.
By the time I was done, the countdown was getting low. I pulled on whatever I had that was clean, ran a brush through my hair, and decided it was good enough. My tee had a cartoon character on it. My jeans were old, faded, and dirt stained. My boots were the ones I rode in, which were quickly becoming my favorite. I tossed my wet hair in a braid, decided I'd leave my hat today, and turned off the timer.
J.D. and Tanner both got texts, letting them know where I'd gone. That just seemed fair. Then I left. Evidently, the suites were only offered on the top half of this high-rise hotel. In other words, the ride down the elevator was a long one. The numbers dinged as the car moved lower, a sound which was starting to feel almost homey with all the time I'd spent in hotels lately.
