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Reed was manning the circular bar and waved him over, greeting him as he settled on a barstool. “Congratulations.” Sliding a beer across the mahogany top, he thumped Brett on the shoulder with a slash of his white teeth in a quick grin. “You haven’t lost your touch, big brother.”
“Thank God. Otherwise, the temptation to take matters into my own hands might have gotten the better of me.” Saluting him with his drink, Brett added, “Thanks, I needed this,” before downing a hefty swallow of the cold brew. “Where’s Slade?”
“He’s still working with the new college hires. Apparently college hasn’t changed much since we attended. Young guys fresh out of high school still want to spend more time partying and screwing around than working and keeping their grades up.”
Brett remembered finding time around his grueling academic schedule to do the same, only his dad had footed the bill, so he didn’t have to work except when he returned home during breaks. “He’ll have them sweating and loving it within a month, too tired to party and screw around.”
Their youngest brother’s love of ranching and the outdoors made him the logical choice to manage the ranch. Brett and Reed put in their share of sweat and tears whenever possible, but the number of livestock that needed tending, along with crop rotations and manning the oil wells, required staffing several full-time employees as well as part-time help. Slade was good at adjusting the schedule to accommodate the students’ schedules.
The three of them had grown up around horses and cattle, worked and played on the ranch since they could walk. They had firsthand experience on how effective hard work could be in keeping young men who leaned toward getting into trouble on the straight path.
Brett swiveled sideways on his stool so he could scan the crowd. “We’ve got a good turnout tonight.” The dance floor was crowded with patrons stomping out the two-step to the latest country hit. His gaze skimmed over most of them until his attention was snared by a girl walking in who looked barely old enough for legal admittance. Petite, with blonde hair sporting one neon-pink streak that fell to the middle of her back, she looked damn good in a short pink denim skirt paired with a sleeveless, brightly colored blouse knotted at the waist, but too flashy and young for his interest. He caught the barest hint of midriff when she lifted an arm to remove her white Stetson and hook it on a peg.
Turning back around, he put her out of his mind, the same as he had every other woman since he split with Gina last year. Thinking about his still pending divorce always put him in a pissy state so he shoved that away also. Thinking about Gina’s obstinance in holding out for either more money or a reconciliation was sure to put him in a sour mood. Kat, one of his play partners, had agreed to meet him upstairs later tonight, and he was looking forward to a long scene with her to take his mind off Gina’s newest list of demands. Like him, Kat was coming off a bad relationship and only wanted to hook up for a good time or to indulge her leather fetish, both with clothing and floggers. She was the only woman he had rekindled a limited relationship with since Gina began stonewalling their divorce.
“You and Slade were right about opening this place,” he told his brother.
Reed and Slade had worn down Brett’s arguments against adding another business for them to manage. After they’d produced the numbers a popular club could bring in, he’d seen the upside of sinking some cash into renovating the neglected roadside bar. Adding on a second floor to host their private play parties had also been a worthwhile project. The upstairs not only offered them a private space to indulge their penchant for sexual control but provided a safe haven for their friends who also indulged in those proclivities.
“We’re always right. You need to pull that resistant-to-change stick out of your ass more often and trust us.” Reed unscrewed a bottle top and slid the beer down the bar into the waiting hand of a customer. Lifting it, the man saluted his thanks by tapping his forehead with the slender neck.
The unaccustomed urge to spin around and search for the younger woman who had caught his eye kept nagging Brett, irritating him. He fought the compulsion and addressed Reed’s comment with a snicker. “That stick ensures you two don’t get us in over our heads, either timewise or financially. I’m meeting Kat upstairs in a little while. Do you have plans?”
A grimace crossed Reed’s face. “I’d rather join you than go hold John’s hand again, but that’s what partners do.”
Reed’s highway patrol partner, John Wainscott, was embroiled in a difficult divorce. Unlike Brett, John’s wife had filed several months ago, finally tiring of her husband’s constant infidelity. “If he’s so despondent over losing her, maybe he shouldn’t have cheated.”
“That’s what I was telling him all along.” Reed looked away from Brett as he said, “Lily deserves better. He should quit fighting her and sign the fucking papers.”
Brett and Slade had long suspected Reed harbored strong feelings for his partner’s wife. There was no way any of them would have an affair with a married woman, not after growing up with the stigma of their father’s sordid womanizing with both single and married women.
“From your mouth to Gina’s ears,” he stated, thinking of Gina’s stubbornness in dragging out their divorce in the hopes of getting more money. She was so confident he would either cave and take her back or pay her more just to rid himself of her that she brushed off the massive lawyer fees she kept accumulating.
Reed lifted a hand to the two women signaling him at the other end of the bar. “Gina’s a manipulative, self-centered bitch. John’s problem is he didn’t realize how lucky he was until he lost Lily. Gotta go.”
Brett nodded. “Later, bro.”
Without Reed to talk to, he caved to the constant itch plaguing him since catching sight of the decked-out blonde with an impish grin and spun around to seek her out just to prove to himself his initial reaction had been a fluke. She was easy to spot on the dance floor across the congested room. Long, wavy blonde hair whipped around a laughing attractive face as she whirled and gyrated to the faster beat the younger crowd preferred. She had kicked her shoes off sometime after entering the club, which, by the way she moved, he deemed a good thing. Dancing like that in heels could end up as detrimental to her safety as her dancing was to the libido of any man watching her, himself included, unfortunately. A quick twirl drew her partner’s gaze to her slender legs, but she appeared totally oblivious to his lustful stare. Her thin top couldn’t disguise the sway of her braless breasts that enticed more gazes than Brett’s. Irritated with himself for ogling someone so much younger than him, he forced his attention away, turning around to face Reed strolling toward him with an insolent grin.
“She’s a sight for sore eyes, isn’t she?” Reed commented, his grin widening at something the girl did.
Brett frowned, refusing to look. “She’s a fucking kid.”
Shrugging, Reed replied, “Old enough to be in here and drink. You know I’m careful about ID checks.”
His brother had spent over fifteen years in law enforcement, the first ten in Denver before returning to Wyoming to work for highway patrol. And yeah, he was aware of just how seriously Reed took the responsibility of ensuring everyone allowed admittance was of legal age and no one who was impaired got behind the wheel of a car.
“I prefer a woman who knows the ropes instead of a naïve kid barely out of high school. I’m forty, for God’s sake.” Too bad his body didn’t care how old the girl was. The image of her laughing face and unabashed dancing tempted him to take another glance, but he refused to be led around by his dick like his father and kept his back to the dance floor.
Reed threw his head back and laughed. “And I’m right behind you at thirty-eight going on thirty-nine with forty staring me in the face, and I’m not having a problem picturing her dancing to my tune naked.”
“Perv,” Brett snapped but couldn’t help returning his brother’s grin.
If he thought the spark in Reed’s eyes meant more than appreciation for the girl’s dance skills and attractiveness, Brett would encourage him to make a move in her direction. Like Brett, Reed preferred to stick to a few sexually submissive women who enjoyed his company as much as his dominant attention.
“No harm in looking. I keep telling Slade that, anything to get a human response, but he just ignores me.” Reed’s face conveyed compassion as well as frustration with their youngest brother’s penchant for keeping too much to himself.
Brett shook his head. “He’ll come around when he’s ready. The lives he took weigh on him.” As a sniper in the military, Slade bore a heavy burden he’d been struggling to unload since leaving the army several years ago.
