Page 25 of Her Three Rangers

I looked over and gave her an inquisitive look. “Grace?” I asked. “Anything?”

She shook her head, but would only meet my gaze for a couple of seconds before shifting her attention back to Ty.

“Guess we’re going to keep that conversation to ourselves,” I said, shrugging as I stood up from the couch and re-adjusted my towel. “I think I heard the shower shut off,” I said, tossing her a wink as I left the room.

“Still in that towel, eh?” Cody laughed as he passed me in the hallway, fully dressed.

“This towel has been good to me tonight,” I replied, loving the confused look he gave me in return.

He could sit and wonder what the hell that meant while I was gone.

At least my clothes were dry by the time I was finally able to retrieve them. I hurried to put them on, the warm, soft fabric—clean again after a long day out in the Texas sun—felt good against my skin. A washer and dryer were just a couple more things that you take for granted until you suddenly have to do without.

I was no stranger to extended trips on the road—hell, none of us were—but man, it had been a lot of years since I’d had to really rough it like this. Living in a tent for more than a couple of days at a time was fine for rowdy kids, but I was getting too old for that shit.

Walking out of the bathroom, I headed straight for the front door, pausing only for a second to give Grace a knowing look.

It might be rough as hell here, but at least the scenery was nice.

She only met my gaze for a moment, though, before turning her full attention back to Ty and Cody. Which was fine. I wasn’t the jealous type to begin with, but especially not now that I knew where I stood with her.

If we could work something out between the four of us, that would be great. It wouldn’t be the first time Cody, Ty, and I had made a similar pact.

Now it was up to each of them to give it their best shot. In the end, only Grace could decide if being with all three of us was something she wanted to do.

Chapter 8 - Ty

I gave Grace a questioning look as Jaeger stood up and left the room. She was clearly uncomfortable, and that was the last thing I wanted. Still, if we were going to ask her to spend a little time with each of us, this was really the only way to get the ball rolling.

Crossing the room, I paused where Jaeger had been sitting next to her, then grimaced. “Did he really sit here with his wet towel?”

She rolled her eyes and laughed. “That’s what I said. But I guess I can’t blame him too much. He did ask before he sat down.”

I grinned. “Nah, we can still blame him. Trust me, he catches plenty of hell on a regular basis from me, Cody, and the rest of the guys. He can take it.”

“Where are the rest of the guys?” she asked, gesturing toward the seat next to her. “And please feel free to sit down, though you’ll probably have to sit to one side to avoid the wet spot.”

I quickly saw what she meant as I sat down. Of course, Jaeger had planted his big ass right in the middle of the cushion, meaning that if I wanted to avoid getting my ass wet, I’d have to either sit as far as I could to one side of the couch or the other.

He had probably planned it that way, the bastard. He was always getting a laugh by doing shit like that.

But even though he seemed to take it as his mission in life to find a million new ways to piss me off, I couldn’t help but grin as I wondered how he’d react if he’d known that he had actually done me a favor with his little cushion prank.

The way I saw it, it was the best excuse to sit a whole lot closer to Grace than I normally would have a reason to.

She had even said it herself that I’d have to sit on one side or the other, so who could blame me for choosing the side closest to her?

As soon as I tried to sit down, I discovered another bonus to the fact that we’d be sitting so close—there was nowhere to put my arm.

Or, rather, there was only one place to put it—over the back of the couch behind her. If my arm slipped just a little, it would be draped around her shoulders.

Just another win handed to me by Jaeger, as far as I was concerned.

“Is this okay?” I asked, feeling a little twinge of guilt for being so happy to get way up into her personal space. “I can, uh… sit somewhere else if you want.”

She looked at me and smiled, her face already so close to mine that it was hard to concentrate on anything else.

“This is good,” she said. “Besides, the only other place to sit is the floor, and that’s out of the question.”