Free Briar's Cowboys by Brynn Paulin Page A

make sense. He was as much a part of the relationship as Jax was. “Once in a while, we won’t all be together,” he said. “It’s the way things occasionally work out. Just me with her. Sometimes just you—”
    His friend shook his head.
    “ What is wrong?” Jax demanded.
    “He thinks I’m going to replace him.”
    Jax looked over Ram’s shoulder at Briar as Ram groaned, speaking the truth of her words. “Why would you say that?” Jax asked her. He looked to Ram. “Why would you think that?”
    “You’re getting what you’ve always wanted,” Ram simply said.
    Jax stared at him speechless.
    “Why don’t you leave Ram and I together?” Briar suggested. She came up beside the man and enclosed one of his beat-up hands in two of hers. “We need to talk. Get the others settled then come up in a bit.”
    Without waiting for Jax to reply, she led Ram toward her bedroom, stopping along the way to switch off the light in the room they wouldn’t be using. Stunned by her calm, collected manner, Jax watched them go and wondered anew what life would be like here at Last Chance.
    * * * *
    “You shouldn’t worry,” Briar said as she closed her bedroom door behind them.
    “Worry about what?” Ram hedged. He didn’t want to show his vulnerability. Belligerently, he crossed his arms and leaned on the door.
    She crossed her arms, mimicking him. He gave her points for allowing him no quarter.
    “Being replaced,” she replied baldly. “It’s obvious to me that Jax cares for you. Also…you’re familiar with the phrase ‘all or nothing’? I’m planning to be a little greedy that way. I want you both for as long as it works out. Maybe it’ll be a week, maybe a year…” She shrugged. “Maybe even longer. Who knows? What I do know is that I want both of you. And I think Jax wants both of us. The other guys aren’t here permanently, no matter what direction they choose to go. So there’s only one person in question. If anyone should feel as if their place were in jeopardy, it should be me.”
    She shrugged, but before she walked away, he saw it bothered her. He was screwing up the best opportunity to happen to him and Jax in a long time.
    “Briar…”
    “You don’t have to worry that it’ll impact your job,” she said as she moved to the dresser and started pulling toiletries out of a box. “No matter what happens, I’ll still need you and Jax on the ranch.”
    God, he was such a flippin’ idiot!
    “I don’t give a crap about the job.”
    “Oh,” she said, her voice small. Somehow, she’d lost the confidence of a few minutes ago—probably because he’d driven it from her by failing to tell her how he really felt.
    Moving behind her, he caught her hands and stopped her busy work.
    “ Listen ,” he ordered. “Like you said, it’s too soon to know how we feel and where this is going, but don’t you doubt I want you. I want you so badly, I’ve been hard for you since I first saw you in the barn. Hell, I got hard the first time Jax showed me a picture of you. And I want him, too. So, physically? Yeah, we can definitely make a go of things.”
    “Did you know, anthropologically speaking, that many non-western unions start physically and the emotional connection grows later?”
    “I should have known we were in trouble when Jax told me one of your majors was in anthropology. You’re going to play us left and right, aren’t you?”
    “Play you?” she laughed. “Never. Study you? Maybe.” A glint sparked in her eyes when she met his gaze in the mirror over the dresser and one side of her mouth lifted. “I’d really like to get a better feel of cowboys and the town of Daly. It would be an interesting cultural study.”
    “Hmm. Well. Maybe we should get on the bed and you can start getting a feel of this cowboy.” Suddenly, Ram wanted nothing more than to be in bed with her and to start developing more of that connection she’d mentioned.

 
    Chapter Four
     
     
    Slipping from Ram’s