Page 38 of Bedroom Rodeo
Ash cocked a brow. “Wouldn’t she?”
He rolled the question in his mind. “She wants a baby.” His voice grated on the last word. “Are we even thinking about giving her what she wants?”
Ash hooked a hand around his nape, giving it a rub. He was just as tense as Piers. “We only have so many skills. What are we gonna do in ten years? Nobody wants a geriatric sex worker.”
Piers eyed him. “Wrinkly old balls,” they said at the same time.
He couldn’t even laugh at the joke they’d shared many a time when the subject of their futures came up. He pushed a breath through his nostrils. “We’re already under scrutiny with the bigwigs here looking at us. They might even still suspect us of fathering Avril’s child.”
“I don’t think Hugh and Riggs think we’re responsible for Avril. If they did, they would have kept us here at the ranch to watch for any missteps instead of sending us on the cattle drive.”
It felt like a week had passed since the time they gave Piers the order to take the cattle over the ridge, yet it was that very morning. So much had happened since then.
Like Sylvee rocking their world with her request.
Ash met his stare.
Double fuck.
“Why don’t I like that look on your face?”
“Because you know what I’m about to say.”
“How can you even entertain this, Ash? We see what’s happening with Avril. And she doesn’t even service the clients.”
“This is Alaska—the last frontier. The last Wild West. Rules don’t work here. If they have to enforce this, the ranch might as well close. It’s a destination vacation and everyone knows shit happens on those vacations.”
“Yeah, people get drunk and fall off cruise ships. They don’t go home with a baby on board.”
* * * * *
When Sylvee hit them out of nowhere that she wanted them to give her a child, Ash didn’t know what to say. But having her curled up with him in that saddle on the ride back had done something to him.
Something that went above and beyond his duty as a Boot Knocker, and even higher than friendship.
He loved that woman with half of his damn heart. The other half belonged to Piers. The words had never been spoken between them, but there was no one he’d want to be in this situation with other than Piers.
“If we do this, and it takes…”
They both digested Piers’s words and what they meant—if their seed impregnated Sylvee.
Ash nodded. “Then we’d have to leave the ranch.”
“What else are we qualified to do? We can’t blow it here. It’s our retirement plan.” Piers tugged on the brim of his hat, pulling it low over his eyes, something he did when agitated.
Ash typically got his friend to laugh when he was in this state of mind, but this situation was beyond soothing away.
“Our retirement plan was to work here until our cocks stopped working and our balls got too old, saggy and wrinkled to appeal to the women. We’ve packed away almost every dime of our income and tips since we started working here. Our food and housing are paid for. We don’t even need to pay for vehicles or gas to commute to work.”
“Get to the point.”
“We have our rainy-day fund. What do you think that’s for, Piers? It’s pouring.”
Their gazes locked. The struggle in Piers’s eyes was equivalent to wrestling with a grizzly.
“Plus, is there anyone you’d rather be with than Sylvee?” His voice pitched low with the emotion banked inside his chest that was finally demanding release. He had to get this out—because he wanted it so damn bad.
Wanted to father her child. Wanted to be with the woman he’d loved since they were kids.