Steal Her Heart (Kaid Ranch Shifters #1)(30)

Chapter Fourteen


“I was worried I wasn’t wearing enough stealth-black for our thieving mission,” Maris muttered to Bryson as he pounded on Dallas’s front door. “But apparently thieving to you is a little different than it is to me. I thought we were supposed to be sneaky.”

“I’m coming!” Dallas yelled from inside.

“I ain’t no thief. It’s your shit. It ain’t stealing if you own it.”

“But if I technically gave it to him?”

“Is your name on the title for them?”

“Yes.”

“So they’re paid off?”

“To the left, you fuckin’ dickhair,” Wes yelled as Hunter backed up a flatbed trailer they’d retrieved from the Kaid Brother’s Ranch.

Maris twisted and frowned at the boys as Hunter argued, “What did innocent dick hairs ever do to be listed as an insult?” Seriously, Hunter was sticking up for pubes.

“Yes, they’re paid off,” she said.

“And you paid for them?”

Okay, she saw his point. “Also yes.”

The door opened, and there stood Dallas. In his boxers. Looking like his skin hadn’t seen the sun in a while and sporting a new beer gut. His blond hair was mussed, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

“Is that it?” Bryson asked.

Maris snorted and tried to cover the little laugh with a cough.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her. “And who the fuck are you?”

Bryson cocked his head. “Repo man, here to get her equipment back. Where’s the keys to her shit?”

“Ha! Are you serious? Get off my land before I put a bullet in you.”

“That would be a scary threat, but he gets shot all the time and just keeps surviving,” Maris enlightened him. “Want me to ask Sadey where the keys are? Sadey!” she called into the house.

“She ain’t here. She’s out of town.” His frown deepened.

“Sounds like a lie. What you really mean is she left you,” Bryson said. “Shocker. Keys?”

“Fuck you. I’m calling the cops.”

“Suit yourself,” Bryson said and did an about-face and made his way toward the barn.

“Hey, look inside any boots he has sitting right inside the doorway,” she called to Hunter, who had definitely just snapped the lock on the barn door. “He’s a creature of habit. He used to hide them in his boots.”

“Maris!” Dallas yelled. “What the fuck?” She tipped an imaginary hat and made to leave the porch, but he stopped her. “You’re different now. Guess your new friend gave you a backbone.”

“I already had a backbone, Dallas,” she said, rounding on him. “I was just trying to make us work. I was trying to be a good partner for you, and you shit on me for all my efforts.”

“She sure is different, ain’t she, Dallas?” Bryson asked. He was back, resting his arm on the porch railing at the bottom stair. “She’s glowing now, ain’t she? Confident. Hair’s shiny, smile is genuine. She…is…a…stunner. And about now, you’re probably wondering what’s changed. You’re maybe figuring out you were the problem. Maybe you’re thinkin’ she grew into herself once she cut your dead weight, and you’d be right.” Bryson gave him a predatory smile. “It would be in your best interest not to lift your voice to her again.”

“Found the keys to your rigs, Maris!” Hunter called across the clearing. He was standing in the doorway of the barn holding up a ring of keys and wearing the biggest grin.

Oh, dear goodness, when she turned back around to her ex, the look on Dallas’s face was awesome. Slack jawed, and eyes wide.

“Remember her as she is now, asshole,” Bryson advised him. “She’s the type of woman you were supposed to keep, not throw away. You fucked up, and now look at her. She’s a beauty, ain’t she? Confidence does that to a woman. Security, safety. Women like her don’t do well in the care of boys.”

She grinned and finished it for him, “We grow better with men.”

Dallas’s face turned crimson. “Fuck this, I’m calling the cops.”

“We already called ’em,” Hunter yelled out. “Told them we could find the titles if they want them. Go have another beer, Dallas. We’ll be done in a jiffy.”

Okay, this was awesome. Maris couldn’t help the giggles that bubbled up her throat at the very human and un-intimidating growl that came from Dallas as she and Bryson walked away.

“Did they really already call the cops?” she whispered to Bryson.

“Oh, hell no, we aren’t messing with cops. That dude’s just dumb enough to believe a bluff.” Bryson held out his arm, and she slipped her hand into the crook of it. “Feel good?”

“To have my moment of closure with him?”

“Yep.”

She rested her cheek against his arm. “Not half as good as knowing you have my back. The past is the past. Closure is fine, but the future is more important now.”

And there it was again. The pride he was so good at showing in his expression.

Butterflies.

The boys made quick work of sorting the trailer and tractor. The side-by-side was harder because it hadn’t been used in a long time and the battery was dead, so Bryson had to push it out of the barn while she steered, and they loaded it onto her re-confiscated cattle trailer that way. Everything else went smooth-as-butter, though.