Page 92 of Cowboys Next Door

“Are we going to eat?” Jeff barks.

“Good Lord, you’re a cantankerous old shit, aren’t you?” Connor demands. “Where did you find this one, Miss Katherine?”

The entire table bursts into laughter, Jeff included, as Gran rises from the table.

“I’ll leave Rosie to tell you that story,” she laughs. “I have a hangry man to feed.”

“I’ll help you. I’ve had just about enough of this Gen Z orgy,” Jeff snorts, trailing after her.

“No, really, where did she find that one?” Connor asks, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Turns out she audited some of his classes after my grandfather died and maintained something of a schoolgirl crush on him,” I explain. “No accounting for some tastes, huh?” I wriggle my eyebrows at them, and they groan, throwing their napkins in my direction.

I cock my head, smile fading slightly. “Well?” I ask. “Tell me honestly, because she’s really serious about this. Are we doing this? Can we do this?”

“I’ve been in from the start,” Eli reminds me, and I smile at him lovingly.

“Yeah, you have been.”

“I will always have your back, Rose. And we’ve gotten this far together,” Hudson adds.

All eyes are on Connor now, who sits back and studies his friends pensively. My heart freezes, but before I can overthink it, he leans forward.

“I know what it’s like to be without you, Rose, and to be without the only brothers I’ve known my whole life. I never want to feel that again. I am in. All the way.”

Exhaling, I jump up to embrace them all in a group hug.

“Oh, bloody hell,” Jeff snaps, turning and exiting the dining room as quickly as he entered.

“How soon are they leaving?” Connor grumbles.

“Not soon enough,” Hudson concludes.

Epilogue

ROSE

One Year Later

Fingertips brush over the flat of my naked belly, and I shiver without opening my eyes. Another set of hands slides up my calf, and I turn to greet Hudson with a kiss, this morning already starting off beautifully.

“Good morning,” I purr, parting my lips, moving eagerly for the first set of lips to take me into my morning euphoria, but instead, a sloppy tongue licks my forehead. “UGH!”

The weight of golden retriever fur falls on me, and I grunt, shoving my hands fully to push the canine off the bed.

“BOUNCE!” I yell, my eyes flying open as the alarm shrills out in unison.

The men groan with disappointment when Silo joins the festivities, his tail wagging and whipping me in the face. Sputtering and laughing disgustedly, Connor begins shooing them off our California king bed, the romance effectively ruined now—at least for the moment. We will get more moments later.

I hit my phone to end the shrieking alarm as the dogs take Connor’s movements as a game.

“You have got to do something about those mutts!” Eli groans, throwing the sheets aside as Connor manages to drive the pups from the room.

I snicker, not really perturbed by this commonplace interruption. One of us forgot to close the bedroom door before coming to bed last night.

“It’s their house, too,” I remind Eli.

“And they don’t let us forget it,” he grumbles.