Free Time of Possession (Seattle Lumberjacks #5) by Jami Davenport

the
beauty around them and forget her rash words.
    No such luck.
    “Do what?”
    Freddie never forgot anything or allowed
herself to be distracted from the subject at hand. Freddie had the
same laser focus as their brother, which meant Estie didn’t stand a
chance, and she’d stupidly brought this on herself.
    “Estie?” Freddie prompted with a note of
exasperation to her voice.
    “Marry Richard.” Estie stared between
Annie’s ears at the road ahead, dappled by winter sunlight shining
through the trees. She could feel her sister’s shrewd gaze on
her.
    “Why not? You two are perfect together.”
    “Seriously? You really think so?” Estie
couldn’t help feeling a little insulted, but maybe it looked that
way from the outside.
    “Does it matter what I think?” Freddie
laughed. Her sister took no prisoners, scared the crap out of even
the strongest man, and emasculated those not smart enough to run
like hell when she got her claws into them. Lots of people lumped
Estie in with her, but Estie considered herself the nicer
sister—not that that was saying much.
    “Actually, it does. Why do you think he’s
perfect for me?” Estie ground her teeth together, not thrilled
about her sister’s assessment.
    “I didn’t say he was perfect for you. I said
you’re perfect together. He’s used to being controlled and you like
to control.”
    “And you think I should marry him?”
    “Not really, but you seem to think
you should. Estie, you like everything in a perfect little package,
no surprises, no deviating from the plan. He’s part of your plan,
and come hell or high water, you’re going to follow that plan.”
    She couldn’t deny that. “We’re good
partners.”
    “Marriage isn’t a business, or it shouldn’t
be. Relationships are messy, emotional, and unpredictable.” Freddie
narrowed her eyes. “Like it or not, that’s the deal. Richard lulls
you into thinking you can have an ordered, controlled relationship.
I’ll bet you he’s not nearly as compliant as you think he is.”
    Freddie had never been long on sympathy, not
one damn bit. She pretty much told it like it was and didn’t care
if she stepped on toes doing it.
    She shot a glance at Freddie. “I know him
better than his own mother does.” Estie combed her horse’s mane
with her fingers so it lay flat on one side of her neck. But the
opinion Freddie has just expressed had crossed her mind.
    “Estie, I don’t know what the deal is. Not
really. But for whatever reason, you’ve convinced yourself that you
need Richard. That he’s safe. First, you needed him when he propped
you up after Dad died. Then you needed him as a business partner
because of what happened to Tyler’s finances. No one blames that on
you, except you, by the way. Stuff out of your control—yes, out of
your control—created that situation, but now you’ve lost faith in
your abilities and convinced yourself that you need Richard. Then
you turn a decade-long friendship into a romantic relationship for
the same damn reasons. It’s fucked up, but that’s how it goes.”
Despite her reputation for being blunt, Freddie had never voiced
her opinion so strongly. Estie stared at the trees at the side of
the road so her sister wouldn’t see the tears. Annie and Ebony’s
hooves clip-clopped on the hard packed dirt of the logging road.
Freddie reached across the distance between them and patted Estie’s
shoulder in a rare sisterly display of comfort and affection. Not
that it lessened the truth of her sister’s words.
    Her carefully planned life was fucked
up. Her future was starting to deviate like a rebellious teenager
and taking a path she’d never planned. She needed to get it back on
track, starting with crushing her insane attraction to Brett.
    Because she didn’t really want him; she just
thought she did.

 
    Chapter 6
Illegal Use of the Hands
    On top of everything else going on in Brett’s
life, this had to happen at the worst possible fucking time.
    Brett