Savior Complex: A Small Town Love Triangle Romance

I deepen the kiss, opening my mouth and touching my tongue to hers in a question. She answers, flicking her own tongue over mine. But then she pulls away. She gives me one last quick kiss, her mouth closed, and then she smiles.

“Maybe later,” she says, then turns her head on my chest so she can keep watching the movie.

Later doesn’t happen, though. I curl my body up behind hers, and she remains in her tiny shorts and tank top. Neither one of us make the move to seduce the other, and soon her breathing slows. Eventually she pulls away, moving to her side of the bed.

“You should bring Nina,” she murmurs, and I almost choke on my surprise.

“Nina? Why?”

“Because she works for you, silly.”

I mean, of course that’s why. Not for any other reason.

“I didn’t book any extra rooms,” I say. “ I doubt she’ll want to stay with any of the guys.”

“Just let her bunk with you,” Jordy yawns. “She’s my cousin, which makes her kind of like your cousin too.”

Totally the wrong thing to say. If Jordy even knew how much restraint I had to have around “our” cousin…I can’t even think about it, let alone think about Nina as any kind of family—and this inner argument is reason enough to not even consider Nina for this trip.

“I’ll consider it,” I say anyways, my mouth defying my brain. I reach out to smooth my hand over Jordy’s arm, but her eyes are already closed, and I can tell she’s fighting sleep. Tomorrow morning, she’ll likely still be asleep when I get up to start my workday.

“She’d probably enjoy it more than me,” Jordy says. A few minutes later, her breathing turns to light purrs, her body moving with each inhale.

But I stay awake a little while longer, suddenly not tired at all. There’s a possibility Nina will be just as bored as Jordy has been. But somehow, I doubt it. The past few weeks, Nina has held her own at the ranch. She’s wanted to learn everything, and she’s a fast learner. There isn’t one job that’s too big or too small for her. I swear she’d be there on her days off if she could, if I hadn’t insisted she take her time off seriously. But if I were really being serious, I would have told her I wanted her there every day, every hour.

Now, just thinking about five days together at one of my favorite events of the year, I am suddenly way more excited.

But is it wrong to be this excited? Probably. However, Jordy gave me her blessing.

This means nothing. It’s a boss taking his employees to the Horse Ranch Convention. Nothing more than that. Maybe she’ll have just as much fun as the guys do, though the thought of her bringing home a cowboy is enough to make me want to punch a nail into my fist.

Three weeks can’t come soon enough.

Chapter Eighteen

Brayden

The guys abandon us as soon as the bus pulls into the casino hotel, grabbing their bags and booking it through the sliding doors. This year’s convention is at the Everglades Casino in Galveston, which means these guys are getting no sleep at all over the next five days.

“Wow, this place is huge,” Nina says, standing back while I get both our bags. I’d gone back and forth over whether or not she should come, and only decided to ask her after the hotel confirmed they could move me to a double queen room, thanks to a cancellation.

“You’re lucky,” the desk clerk had told me over the phone. “We’ve been booked solid for months.”

On the bus, Nina sat with Levi, talking the whole time about who knows what while I tried my best to keep my eyes to myself. I’d hoped she would sit with me, but she chose the seat across the aisle, only glancing at me long enough to offer a quick smile and another thank you for letting her tag along. If she only knew how much I wanted her there, how I wished it were just the two of us on a different kind of trip, not a convention full of people and events.

Now, I can’t help smiling at the awe on her face as she looks up at the place we’re staying. I know Nina is richer than sin, but the way she’s acting, it’s like she’s never stayed somewhere this fancy in her life—and Everglades isn’t even the fanciest place out there. It makes me want to show her more, just to see her eyes light up this way.

“I’ve got that,” she says when I retrieve her bag from the luggage handler. She takes it from me before I can argue. “You have enough stuff to deal with,” she nods her head at my bags that are now in a pile. My clothes only fill one of the bags, while two others carry my laptop, binders, and other items I need for a variety of meetings I’ll be attending.

If Jordy had been here, she would have handed me her bag too. Instead, Nina is reaching for one of mine, saving me from juggling all the bags at once or having to hunt down a garment cart.

We walk into the casino, and I’m immediately greeted by familiar faces and my name called through the lobby. It took a couple years for me to gain the same respect my dad got here, but now I’m considered one of the old timers—even though it’s only been five years. I know my dad hates that he doesn’t go anymore, but it was just too hard for him to keep this up. Not just because of his physical limitations, but because it was a reminder of all he’d lost with the accident. Still, every time one of the guys comes up to me and claps a hand on my shoulder, I can’t help feeling that a part of it is for my dad too. So I receive each greeting for him, as well as for me.

“And this must be your lovely bride,” Mr. Murphy, the chairman of the convention, says as he holds out his hand. I know he’s met Jordy, but it’s been a whole year, so I cut him some slack.

“No, this is Nina,” I say, glancing at her with an embarrassed smile. Her cheeks are flushed, making her blue eyes seem like oceans.

“I work on the ranch,” she says, placing her hand in his. “I guess I’m one of the guys.” She lets loose a nervous laugh as he raises her hand to his lips.