Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 44297 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44297 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
When our stepsister shows up at our ranch—broke, exhausted, and nursing a secret only capable hands and mouths can soothe—we never expected she’d be the one to satisfy a thirst we’ve always hidden.
Joelle was our stepsister for a year before she and her mama left after our father’s passing. Back then, she was a quiet little thing, all big eyes and soft, uncertain smiles.
But the woman walking onto our ranch now? She’s a single mother with curves made to fit a cowboy’s grip.
She asks for the dust-bare basics. A room. A job. Some space to breathe.
What she doesn’t expect is two men ready to give her the whole damn world.
The second I get my hands on her, feel the weight of her need, catch the scent of milk clinging to her skin, and taste the sweet ache she’s hiding… I know I’m done for.
But I’m not the only one watching her like she’s the first rain after a drought.
My twin Caleb sees her, too, and we share everything.
Now, together, we want to claim, protect, and soothe every tender part of her she’s had to guard alone. Maybe even breed her, if she’s willing.
Previous generations built this ranch on sweat, cattle, and decades of grit—but for the first time, it feels like we could build a home; for her, for her boy, and for the family we were always meant to be.
Only one problem.
The boy’s daddy just rode back into town, mean-mouthed and looking to stake a claim he damn well never earned.
And if he thinks he’s taking Joelle or her baby away from us?
He’s about to learn how real cowboys protect what’s theirs.
Saddle up for a milky, forbidden, fast-burn, stepbrother cowboy ménage full of dirty devotion and the kind of surrender that satisfies more than just hunger
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter 1
Joelle
The road is so bumpy my bones are jangling, and the heat so violent the car smells like it’s melting. Even with the window open, there’s no relief. The air outside is just as heavy, filling my nostrils with the odor of sunbaked dirt.
My body’s sticky with sweat, but I can live with that. My dry mouth is another matter. I ran out of water two hours ago.
Worse, I’m close to leaking from the left side. It’s always the left.
It’s been over twelve hours since I last nursed.
I press my forearm tight across my chest and try to breathe through it, but there’s no ignoring the ache. I feel swollen, overripe, and raw, under the kind of pressure that makes my hands shake and my throat close up. I want to cry. Or scream. Maybe both.
You’re doing this for a reason, I remind myself. You’ve got to let it dry up. It’s time.
Caleb—my son, not one of the men I’m about to see—is with Janey today. Sweet, long-suffering Janey, who took us in when I had nowhere else to go and never once made me feel like the burden I’ve become. She helped me through the end of my pregnancy, the mess of those first few months, all the nights I thought I’d break from exhaustion. She gave us everything without asking for anything in return.
But people have limits, and I’m close to reaching hers. I need to find somewhere else to go before she asks me to leave.
She hugged me goodbye early this morning, her arms tight around my shoulders, whispering that I was stronger than I thought. Caleb clung to me, fat little fingers fisted in my shirt, and I had to swallow the lump in my throat not to fall apart right there. I kissed his blond curls and told him I’d be back soon.
God, I hope I will.
Grayswood ranch rises out of the dry land like it was always part of it. The weathered siding, wide porch, and warped screen door I remember slamming shut when I was a teenager at the end of my patience are all the same. It’s still isolated, still quiet, and too far from anything that feels like real life. It’s the kind of place you forget how to leave once you’ve been there long enough and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or terrifying.
I lived here for a while, back when Mom married Clay. I was fourteen. The twins, Wade and Caleb, were already grown, and barely acknowledged us beyond cold nods and long silences. They hated Mom. I knew that. I don’t think Wade ever looked at me long enough to decide what he thought of me. Caleb was sweeter, but always busy with the ranch. I was a kid who tagged along with a marriage they wished didn’t exist.
When I left, I’m sure they never expected to see me again, and I never planned on returning.
But plans don’t mean much when you’re clean out of options.
The ad was short: Live-in housekeeper. Remote cattle ranch. Room and board included. Cooking and housekeeping. Some ranch chores. No timewasters.
No names. No website. Just a phone number and an address I recognized. I called out of desperation and the voice that answered was low and unmistakably familiar, saying to come around three. Said they’d see how I fit.
Now here I am, about to step back into a world that I thought would always be an uncomfortable memory.
I pull the car into the gravel drive and shut off the engine, heart beating loud in the silence. My hands tremble on the steering wheel. My shirt’s soaked through at my back, and I don’t have long before I’ll be leaking through at the front. I reach for a tissue but find the box empty and I don’t dare look down because I don’t have a choice but to get out of this car and go inside.
I make my way to the porch, my heart hammering. The wood groans beneath my beat-up sandals, and for a moment, I stand there, fist raised, staring at the door like it might open itself.
There are so many reasons I should turn around and leave. When the Crosby brothers find out it’s me who’s looking for work, chances are they’re going to tell me to go. I hate that they’ll see how pathetic and desperate I am. But my son needs a place to live, and I’ll do anything for him. Anything. Including humiliating myself before two men who used to be my stepbrothers and are now strangers.
I knock.
The door opens almost instantly.
Wade stands in the doorway. I know it’s him from the arrogant tilt of his head and the way his gray eyes size me up in two seconds flat. For a moment, my breath just… stutters.