Flawless Surrender (The Surrender Trilogy, #2)(41)

For the first time in her life, she let someone take over and take care of her. After a few minutes of recovery cuddling, the two men went to work cleaning her up and setting up camp for the night. They redressed for comfort more than modesty, and then spent the rest of the evening sharing ghost stories, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, and just being blissfully happy with their company.

If there was one dark spot to their happy moment, it was that Tanner wasn’t with them. The knowledge tickled at the back of her brain, as did the realization that she was kidding herself if she thought she could give this up and walk away from them.

By the time they had made love again, and were slipping off into sleep in the sleeping bags, Zoey was determined to convince Tanner that she was the woman for him. Somehow she would find a way to prove to him that she was good enough, even with a shitty past because she knew she would never truly be happy without all three Keegan men in her life.





Chapter Nine





It hurt to watch Zoey leave with Dalton and Clint, but it hurt even more when they all came back on Sunday morning looking freshly fu-cked and satisfied. Tanner’s balls were bluer than the sky even though he had jerked off at least three dozen times in the week Zoey had lived on the Triple T.

He watched her easily step into an affectionate lover role with his brothers, and his heart ached to have her reach for him too. What he wouldn’t give to kiss her before he walked out the door each morning, a promise for the night to come. Instead, he started avoiding her more and more as he fought to control his blinding desire.

Sure it made sense that she would want Clint and Dalton. One had movie star looks and charm to back them up, while the other had a promising career as a doctor ahead of him and the ability to give her the security she never had as a girl. What did he have for her? A ranch that fought to stay profitable, and his six day work week from sun up to sun down with barely any time for her. No. He was absolutely not what was best for Zoey Carson. Even if he wanted her with every ounce of his being.

“Hey, Skipper, how’s it hanging?” Clint asked as he helped Zoey from the truck and carried a load of stuff into the house.

Tanner’s eyes were on Zoey, watching her every hypnotic movement as though his next breath depended on it. Get it together, man, she just slept with your brothers. Instead of cooling his ardor, the mental images his thoughts inspired just made his cock throb.

“Hey, Tanner,” she said softly, moving to stand directly in front of him. He had to fist his hands to keep from reaching out to touch her.

“Hey, Zoey, how was camping? Did they feed you enough?”

She laughed, “Oh yeah, I can’t say I’ve ever had a better tasting marshmallow. The bluff was beautiful, and the view of the sunset was…breathtaking.”

Tanner nodded politely as he shifted on his feet. Did she mean for her eyes to get all dreamy and her soft lips to part seductively? “I’m glad you had a good time. I have to go into town later for a few things, did you want to ride along?”

“Yes, that would be great. I think Dalton is wanting to talk to Doc Plass, so he might want to come along, is that alright?” She looked up at him with those big blue eyes and he nodded immediately.

Damn it. I’m supposed to be the one in control with women. How does this little drop of a woman manage to keep directing me? Feeling a surge of irritation, he stepped backwards and turned away from her deliberately. “I want to be back before sunset, so we’ll leave by noon.”

Without turning back for a response, he headed for the barn. Sunday was his day off from the ranch, but today he didn’t feel like relaxing in his own house. Instead, he would work so hard that he would forget to think about Zoey, and her whisker burned throat, or the missing buttons on Clint’s shirt. He would find a way to live with the hand he was dealt, somehow.



*****



The ride to town was filled with quiet tension. Tanner was giving both Zoey and Dalton the cold shoulder, and it was making things awkward. A big part of her wanted to just flip out on him and ask him what the hell his problem was, but in her gut, she knew she wasn’t ready to hear his answer. If he rejected her again, she wasn’t sure she could survive it.

Instead, she bit her tongue and acted like she wasn’t affected. Dalton was fidgeting on the seat next to her, and she finally reached out to lace her fingers through his. The gratitude in his blue eyes relaxed her a little. Here she was worrying about what Tanner thought when Dalton was getting ready to face his worst fears. Walking back into Stone River and possibly coming face to face with Walt or Minnie White.

“It will be alright,” she murmured. A small thrill went through her when he pressed a soft kiss to her temple and stroked his thumb over her palm.

“I know, how could it not be when I have you with me?”

Tanner snorted, and Zoey shot him an icy glare. When he pointedly ignored her, she huffed, “Well I doubt they will even be in town. It’s Sunday after all, surely there is a football game on or something.”

That made both men laugh. “You’re probably right, kitten. It’s just a lot to take in. I never thought I would be doing this,” Dalton swallowed hard.

“Doing what? Going to the Merc?” Tanner said with a snarky tone.

“Shut up, Skipper. You know what I mean.”

Zoey squeezed Dalton’s hand, “Things are different now. You’re not a little kid anymore, and surely they wouldn’t still be angry at you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”