the ass for months. I’m glad Miss Andrews will now be on the receiving end of my brother’s pissy attitude; I’m done with it. Fucking hell, I’m telling you my brothers are four for four. Every one of them has gone completely bat shit crazy until they got the girl.” They’d each grabbed a beer and settled on the back deck watching the stars move slowly across the Montana sky. “You know one of the strangest things about it is that every single one of my older brothers preached my entire life about how there is always a girl to replace the one you lose.”
“That’s probably not the way it works when it’s the right woman.” Mitch rocked his chair back on two legs and propped his boots up on the adjacent seat giving him an amazing view of the stars above. He loved gazing at the night sky, it was easy to understand why Montana was known as the Big Sky state. The vastness of space was easier to imagine when it was spread out in front of you. It was humbling to know what a small our little corner of the Universe we call home.
“I keep telling Phoenix he’d feel better if he’d go down to Mountain Mastery and blow off some steam, but he hasn’t been there to play for months.” Kip shook his head, and Mitch would have laughed at his obvious frustration, but there was a part of him that actually understood Kip’s point. And the hell of it was, a big part of him missed being Kip’s age and believing there wasn’t much that couldn’t be solved with a good drunk or fucking a beautiful woman until you were both too spent to walk.
“I don’t know how much he’s told you, but we’ve learned a lot about Ms. Andrews in the last few days—that’s one of the reasons I’m rolling in so late. Hang on to your hat, because Phoenix and I are definitely going to be playing at the club in the near future.” There wasn’t a chance in hell they’d walk away from the challenge Aspen’s Mountain Mastery application presented.
Kip’s raised brow let Mitch know his curiosity had been piqued, but he wasn’t going to ask any questions—at least not yet. “I’m pooped, and I’ve got a shit-ton of stuff to get done before the A.I. team shows up Monday.” Phoenix had mentioned Kip was making some changes to the Morgan’s ranching operation. Evidently those changes would include artificial insemination. Certainly didn’t sound like anything Mitch wanted to be involved in. Kip started shaking his head and laughing. “Damn, man. It’s not like anybody is asking you to be on probe duty or anything, so you can wipe the horrified look off your face. Although, watching a couple of our best bulls give it up to a little electrical stimulation will make you mighty glad you’re at the top of the food chain.”
“I’ll take your word for it. I’m convinced this is one of those ignorance is bliss things.” Mitch knew far more about the process than he was letting on, but awareness and a desire to witness it firsthand were two entirely different things. “Besides, I’ve come to plot Athena’s demise with your brother, and I’d hate to leave it all to him. I fear he might go too far and push her so far away we won’t ever be able to reel her in, and I think she just might be what we’ve been looking for.”
“Figured you guys might be planning to share a woman. Seems to be working out well for Brandt and Ryan, although I’m not sure what Joelle would tell you. Those two keep pretty close tabs on her.” Mitch had heard the same thing, word tended to travel quickly among former Special Forces operatives. For the most part, they remained a tight knit group long after leaving the teams.
“From what I’ve seen, Joelle holds her own quite nicely. To tell you the truth, every polyamorous relationship I’ve seen works well, so I’m anxious to see where this leads. I’m sure there are a lot of reasons for the success of poly relationships, but the most obvious is because they require a lot of special attention.
Stephanie Hoffman McManus
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation