Free Borrowed Cowboy (Shadow Maverick Ranch) by Parker Kincade

unflattering to his character.
    Gavin snorted. “Call it whatever you want. Meaning doesn’t change. You’re in and out. No over-nighters. No relationships. No commitments.”
    “There a question in there somewhere?”
    Gavin’s lips thinned. “Don’t fuck around with her, Pax. I mean it. Reese is a nice woman, and Lauren really likes her. You fuck this up and make her quit, I’ll have your ass.”
    “Contrary to what you might think, I’m not a total asshole.” The air left Pax’s lungs in a rush, his chest deflating as fast as his irritation. “I should tell you to mind your own fucking business, but for the fact you’ve got a point.” As much as it pained him to admit it.
    He eyed the table, watched as Reese’s head fell back in laughter at whatever Erin was demonstrating with her hands. As though she’d sensed him looking, she glanced his way. All she had to do was fucking smile at him and his world tilted, righted itself in a way that should have him running in the other direction.
    So why wasn’t he?
    He shook his head. God. First Clay, now Gavin. Damn his brothers and their blasted advice. He didn’t want to think about this shit. He just wanted to enjoy what was left of the evening.
    “She won’t quit. No matter what happens between her and I—which is, in fact, none of your business—I won’t lie to her. She knows where I stand.”
    Gavin frowned. “And where is that, exactly?”
    Pax ran a rough hand through his hair. Gavin had spent the last ten years working in London. Since he’d moved home a few months ago, Gavin had become increasingly meddlesome. As much as Pax loved having his oldest brother around, he could do with a little less interference. “I told her I didn’t have anything to offer her.”
    “You believe that?”
    Pax blinked.
    Did he? A week ago he’d been damn sure about his resolve to live out his life a bachelor. His conversation with Clay had left him conflicted. It hadn’t set well, nor had the fact that his nosey brother had skirted around whatever it was he wanted to say.
    “What’s all this cross-examination really about?”
    Gavin studied him. They had the same black hair, same strong jaw, but Gavin’s blue eyes—so unlike his own dark ones—shone with concern. “I’m worried about you. It’s time you moved on, Pax. Before the anger eats you alive.”
    “Do I look angry to you?” Because at the moment, he only felt slightly annoyed at the prolonged hen party his brother was hosting.
    Apparently ready to try another tactic, Gavin clapped him on the shoulder. “You and Reese were good once, right?”
    “We were friends , not to mention just kids. Things are different now.” A whole mess of different. The lust she provoked, he hadn’t been capable of in his youth. The intensity of their first time together hadn’t held a candle to the other night.
    “As they should be when people grow up.”
    Pax reached for the pitchers, careful not to spill beer all over his boots. “As riveting as this conversation has become, your lovely bride-to-be looks lonely. I think I’ll wander over and see if she wants to dance.”
    Gavin glanced at the table and a smirk split his face. “I’d say I’d return the favor and dance with Reese,” he jerked his chin. “But it looks like someone’s beat me to the punch.”
    Beer decorated his shirt and pant legs as Pax whirled in time to see Reese offer her hand to a dude wearing a designer hat and jeans tight enough to guarantee sterility.
    City boy playing cowboy.
    Pax cursed and placed the pitchers back on the bar, shaking the liquid from his fingers. He had no right to the sensation in his gut caused by watching another man swing Reese close. Too close.
    Gavin laughed, loud and irritating. “You should see your face.” His brother picked up the pitchers Pax had abandoned and shook his head. “Friends, my ass. Words of advice: if you care about her, for christsake, get your head out of yours.”
    Pax thought about